Each year while most of us merrily celebrate the birth of Jesus with our families and friends, volunteers of the Prison Fellowship® Angel Tree Christmas™ help connect children and their incarcerated parent, bringing the joy of Christmas to these hurting families one gift at a time.
The National Institute of Corrections reported in 2017 that “children of incarcerated parents face profound and complex threats to their emotional, physical, educational, and financial well-being.” Research by the Urban Institute estimates 2.7 million U.S. children experience abandonment, loneliness, and shame that comes from having a mom or dad in prison, and more than 5 million children – 7 percent of all U.S. children – have had a parent in prison or jail at some point.
It Begins with a Gift
Angel Tree Christmas™ equips churches and other organizations across the country to serve incarcerated parents by helping to strengthen and restore their relationships with their children and families. During this magical time of the year, Local churches and community organizations mobilize, giving hundreds of thousands of children a specially selected gift, the good news of the Gospel, and a personal message of love on behalf of their incarcerated mom or dad. Additionally, throughout the year, many partner churches help meet prisoners’ families’ material, emotional, and spiritual needs through ministries such as camping, sports camps, and enfolding Angel Tree families into church life.
About Angel Tree® Christmas
All too often, incarceration strains family ties and leads to a breaking point. Through the efforts of Angel Tree Christmas, churches and organizations help alleviate this stress by providing the love of Christ in a tangible way and strengthening family bonds, delivering personalized gifts, and sharing the Gospel to children on behalf of their incarcerated parents at Christmas. Each Angel Tree child is also given access to a free, easy-to-read copy of the Bible in English or Spanish.
The work continues all year long, as churches build relationships with the Angel Tree families in their community. Angel Tree Camping® is a Christ-centered summer camp for prisoners’ kids. Together with Angel Tree Sports Camps®, these ministries help youth become champions on the field and in life. Through each program and mentoring opportunity, Angel Tree can help meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of families in communities around the country.
Chuck Colson’s Legacy
The story of founder Charles “Chuck” Colson is a testimony to God’s grace and mercy. Colson served time in a federal prison where he felt led by God to honor a promise he made to remember prisoners and their families. That promise grew into the world’s largest family of prison ministries.
In 1974, Colson was a former White House counsel to President Nixon. He voluntarily pled guilty to obstruction of justice on a Watergate-related charge and ended up serving seven months as a new Christian in Alabama’s Maxwell Prison.
Colson penned a best-selling memoir, Born Again, and wrote, “I found myself increasingly drawn to the idea that God had put me in prison for a purpose and that I should do something for those I had left behind.”
After serving his time in prison, Colson emerged with a new mission to mobilize the Christian Church in ministering to prisoners. In 1976, he founded Prison Fellowship which grew to become the nation’s largest Christian nonprofit serving prisoners, former inmates, their families, and a leading advocate for criminal justice reform. Colson received recognition for his work among prisoners. In 1993, he received the prestigious Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion.
Colson went to be with the Lord on April 21, 2012. However, his legacy continues in the work of Prison Fellowship, and in the lives of the many people touched by his ministry.
Chuck Colson was one of the great Christian statesmen of our generation. His life was transformed by Jesus Christ, and as a wonderful testimony to the grace of God, Chuck’s life and work with Prison Fellowship impacted thousands of people from prison inmates and their families to churches and communities all over the world. He will be missed. But his courageous voice, which spoke truth the hearts of many, will continue to impact lives for years to come.” – Franklin Graham, President and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse
For more information visit angeltree.org.
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==> Also read “A Heart Filled With Thanksgiving.”
==> And read “Love Conquers All.”