Prisoners In Christ

Locked in Solidarity

January 30, 2024 / 0 comments

Every year since 2014, COS Prisoners in Christ Restorative Justice team has participated in the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) week of Locked in Solidarity by offering a training or event. This year we encourage our members and friends to check out information and opportunities that are available online, including daily webinars during the week of Feb. 5-9,…

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More in ’24

January 6, 2024 / 0 comments

COS’s Prisoners in Christ Restorative Justice team met for the first time in 2024 on Wednesday, Jan. 3, and approved moving forward to do “more in ’24.” We will sponsor a series of financial freedom classes in partnership with Reconciliation of Life and Project GREEN, especially geared to those who are impacted by poverty, crime, and incarceration. …

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Good News from Prisoners in Christ

December 21, 2023 / 0 comments

Good News from Prisoners in Christ: In 2016, the Prisoners in Christ team sponsored a viewing and discussion, organized and led by Troy Rienstra, of the documentary 13th. Thanks to pressure from Troy and other “credible messengers,” measures are being considered at the state level to eliminate slavery from the Michigan Constitution. Section 9, Article…

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Can We Put Our Hands To The Plow?

December 19, 2023 / 0 comments

Michelle Alexander (author of “The New Jim Crow”) says in this interview about fighting the US caste system “I am deeply saddened that been so little resistance from people of faith (to the inhumane, racist penal system.) Certainly there have been many wonderful people who have worked within prisons over the years, tutoring and ministering…

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Radical Mission: Inspiring collaborative action through restorative culture – West Michigan Restorative Justice Conference April 22, 2023

April 3, 2023 / 0 comments

Did you know that for the past ten years, the COS Prisoners in Christ Team has sponsored a weekly Life Change Book Club at the Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia, Michigan? On April 22, 2023, from 9 am – 3 pm you have the opportunity to attend the West Michigan Restorative Justice Conference…

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Restorative Justice Conversation November 21: Citizens for Prison Reform

November 10, 2022 / 0 comments

You are invited to a Restorative Justice conversation on Monday, November 21, from 5:30-7:15 p.m. at Church of the Servant, 3835 Burton St. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546. Citizens for Prison Reform representatives will share how ending solitary confinement and reinstating “good time” credits would reduce harm and promote safety inside prison facilities and in our…

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My Grandmother's Hands Book Cover and Author

Bodily Trauma by Rebecca Koerselman

July 20, 2021 / 0 comments

Essay on Resmaa Menakem’s, My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending our Hearts and Bodies, (Las Vegas, NV: Central Recovery Press, 2017). Read the essay on the Reformed Journal website. https://blog.reformedjournal.com/2021/07/19/bodily-trauma/

Voting in jail: Advocates work to make sure people in Michigan can cast a ballot

October 23, 2020 / 0 comments

“There’s all these barriers that we’re trying to either circumvent or tear down and make it possible,” said Troy Rienstra, director of Nation Outside, an organization made up of formerly incarcerated people that’s part of the voting coalition. Read the full article at the Detroit Free Press website by clicking here.

Prisoners in Christ – Sept. 2020

September 28, 2020 / 0 comments

Church of the Servant is one of the supporters of the October 8th annual meeting. of Safe & Just Michigan. Desmond Meade who will speak at this virtual gathering was featured on 60 Minutes on Sunday, Sept. 27, speaking of voting rights for those with felony records.

person holding yellow black eyed susan flowers in bloom

Prisoners in Christ – Spring 2020

March 28, 2020 / 0 comments

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to reimagine prison ministry – and we are thankful for leadership from Nation Outside. Contact: Troy Rienstra (616) 448-8605 or troy@safeandjustmi.org. The Handlon book group, Calvin Prison Initiative and Celebration Fellowship prison congregation are continuing with “inside” leadership. Angel Tree ministry to families of prisoners will not be sending children to camp in the summer of 2020, but…

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