BECOME A CERTIFIED VOLUNTEER
If you feel a sense of mission to take the love and truth of Jesus Christ behind prison walls, and help inmates navigate the road to transformation, we encourage you to take the "next step" of starting the path to volunteer certification. This is about commitment — to pray, to visit with our field staff, move through our application and training steps, and find out if serving with Prison Fellowship is the right fit for you!
Becoming a Prison Fellowship Volunteer
Explore Where God may be Leading You – Explore the various volunteer opportunity areas that are listed below. Each listing includes a brief explanation of what the opportunity entails, which you can use to help identify which option best matches your talent, skills and gifts. The Bringing Hope video (top of this page) is also a great place to start learning more about what volunteering with Prison Fellowship looks like.
Sign-up to Participate – Once you have identified your area of interest, click the “apply” button, which will take you to the volunteer interest form. Once submitted, a Prison Fellowship Field Director will contact you to setup an initial assessment interview, where you will work together to explore which opportunities are a good fit for you.
Training – Once you have submitted your full volunteer application, and your volunteer status is approved, a Program Support Specialist will provide you with the information you will need to begin your training. Training is setup to help you bridge the gap between the unknown and reality, and will help you gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to serve men and women impacted by crime and incarceration. Training is available both, online and on-site, depending upon your location around the country. We will advise you of the best training option for your area.
Ministry Assignment – After completing the training for your desired ministry role, a Prison Fellowship leader will connect you with a local ministry delivery team where you will join other believers in envisioning, planning and delivering ministry to prisoners and their families.
Evangelistic Outreach
In-prison event volunteers attend special events at correctional facilities close to where they live. With the necessary training from Prison Fellowship, volunteers may hand out evangelistic materials, share the Gospel, and demonstrate caring through their presence.
Evangelistic Outreach
In collaboration with partner organizations, Prison Fellowship carries out evangelistic campaigns in prisons throughout the United States, drawing inmates to hear the Gospel through testimonies, concerts, and other attractions. These events are made possible with the help of in-prison event volunteers.
In-prison event volunteers attend special events at correctional facilities close to where they live. These special events last for one to three days, and volunteers generally interact with inmates in a group setting. With the necessary training from Prison Fellowship, volunteers may hand out evangelistic materials, share the Gospel, and demonstrate caring through their presence.
APPLYBible Studies & Life Skills
In-prison facilitators use the Bible to help inmates apply God’s Word to their daily lives. You don’t have to have a degree in theology, and it doesn’t matter if you’ve never led a Bible study before. Let Prison Fellowship give you the training and tools you need to share the life-changing truths of God’s Word.
Bible Studies & Life Skills
In-prison facilitators use the Bible—as well as materials approved or developed by Prison Fellowship—to help inmates apply God’s Word to their daily lives in areas ranging from addiction to parenting. Rather than simply dictating information, facilitators engage inmates in thoughtful discussions of the issues they face, teaching them to take hold of the power of Scripture to change their lives.
Have you ever wanted to do more with all of the knowledge you soak up during Sunday service and Bible studies? This is your chance. You don’t have to have a degree in theology, and it doesn’t matter if you’ve never led a Bible study before. Let Prison Fellowship give you the training and tools you need to share the life-changing truths of God’s Word.
APPLYMinistry Delivery Team
In-prison team members meet regularly to pray, plan for, and deliver Christ-centered ministry such as worship services, Bible studies, seminars, parenting classes, and special events, working with other team members for the transformation of prisoners through the power and truth of Jesus Christ.
Ministry Delivery Team
An in-prison team member partners with a group of Christian volunteers from a single church, multiple churches or Christian organizations; coming together to serve in unity toward the common goal of seeking the transformation of prisoners through the power and truth of Jesus Christ.
These volunteers meet regularly to pray, plan for, and deliver Christ-centered ministry such as worship services, Bible studies, seminars, parenting classes, various special events and many other ministry offerings, as the facility allows.
APPLYMentoring & Accountability
In-prison mentors enter into correctional facilities to develop one-on-one relationships with prisoners. By modeling godly attitudes and behaviors, mentors prepare prisoners for transition back into their families, their churches, and their communities, demonstrating genuine care on the long-term road to transformation.
Mentoring & Accountability (In-Prison)
Prison Fellowship mentors are regular people from diverse backgrounds, encouragers who go into correctional settings to develop one-on-one relationships with an inmate of their same gender. With authenticity, gentleness, and respect, they model Godly attitudes and behaviors for their mentees. They also help prepare an inmate for transition back into the family, church, and community, by helping them establish goals, learn life skills, and grow towards greater maturity. Mentors demonstrate commitment and genuine care along the long-term road to transformation.
Turn your life experience and caring into an opportunity for an inmate to change. Let Prison Fellowship give you everything you need to become an in-prison mentor.
APPLYReentry Team Member
Prison Fellowship reentry team members connect prisoners with the resources they need to succeed—like addiction counseling, employment services, food, clothing, and housing. As ex-prisoners see their basic needs met, they gain a sense of security that helps them avoid criminal alternatives for good.
Reentry Team Member
For most prisoners, reentry—the transition from prison back into the community—is one of the most difficult parts of the prison sentence. Prison Fellowship reentry team members connect prisoners with the resources available to help ex-prisoners succeed, like addiction counseling, employment services, food, clothing, and housing. As ex-prisoners see their basic needs met, they gain a sense of security that helps them avoid criminal alternatives for good.
Let Prison Fellowship train you to help ex-prisoners access critical services and become productive, law-abiding members of the community.
APPLYMentoring an Ex-Prisoner
Mentors help soon-to-be-released and recently released inmates carry out a thoughtful plan for reentry into society, providing these men and women a listening ear, encouragement, practical advice, and accountability while helping them to reintegrate into family, church, and community.
Mentoring an Ex-Prisoner
Mentors are Prison Fellowship trained encouragers who help soon-to-be-released and recently released inmates of their same gender carry out a thoughtful plan for reentry into society, including full compliance with conditions of release, as well as reintegration into family, church, and community.
As the ex-prisoner first engages with the significant challenges of reentry, the mentor provides a listening ear, encouragement, practical advice, and accountability. The relationship naturally decreases in intensity as the ex-prisoner reaches increasing levels of independence and maturity.
APPLYPrison Fellowship Statement of Faith
Please review Prison Fellowship's statement of faith prior to filling out a volunteer application.
Applicants must be in agreement with the statement of faith in order to volunteer.
We believe in one God, Creator and Lord of the Universe, the co-eternal Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We believe that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, died a substitutionary atoning death on the cross, rose bodily from the dead and ascended to heaven where, as truly God and truly man, He is the only mediator between God and man.
We believe that the Bible is God’s authoritative and inspired Word. It is without error in all its teachings, including creation, history, its own origins, and salvation. Christians must submit to its divine authority, both individually and corporately, in all matters of belief and conduct, which is demonstrated by true righteous living.
We believe in the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death. We also uphold the holy institution of marriage between one man and one woman, rooted as it is in God’s creation of man and woman in His image and in the relationship between Christ and His Church.
We believe that all people are lost sinners and cannot see the Kingdom of God except through the new birth. Justification is by grace through faith in Christ alone. We believe in one holy, universal, and apostolic Church. Its calling is to worship God and witness concerning its Head, Jesus Christ, preaching the Gospel among all nations and demonstrating its commitment by compassionate service to the needs of human beings and promoting righteousness and justice.
We believe in the necessity of the work of the Holy Spirit for the individual’s new birth and growth to maturity, and for the Church’s constant renewal in truth, wisdom, faith, holiness, love, power, and mission.
We believe that Jesus Christ will personally and visibly return in glory to raise the dead and bring salvation and judgment to completion. God will fully manifest His kingdom when He establishes a new heaven and new earth, in which He will be glorified forever and exclude all evil, suffering, and death.