A new article in World magazine examines The Urban Ministry Institute (TUMI) program in California and its expansion from five to 26 prisons in that state.
The in-prison TUMI program is a joint effort of Prison Fellowship and World Impact. TUMI seeks to produce Christian leaders by offering seminary-level courses to inmates. Those completing the program receive a certificate in Christian Leadership Studies, an education equivalent to a master’s in divinity, minus the Greek and Latin.
The World article interviews Cary White, a former inmate at the California Rehabilitation Center, and TUMI graduate. (Learn more about Cary and his path from inmate to mentor and spiritual counselor here.) White recounts the 16 ten-week courses that he had to complete in order to graduate from the program, and the impact those classes had on him and those who took the courses with him. “Almost every single student that was enrolled was literally planting churches in their cell blocks,”
The entire story is available online here. To find out how you can help to bring the TUMI program to prisons in your state, click here.