How one church is overcoming shame

by

by Doug Bender

How Saints Church discovered the blessing of welcoming and empowering formerly incarcerated people.

Left: Pastor Michael Durso Right: Daniel Washington

Michael Durso is the founding pastor at Saints Church, formerly known as Christ Tabernacle, in New York City, where he has served for 40 years.

When I first got saved, my wife, Maria, and I met a family who regularly visited Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York. They invited us to join them. Though it felt overwhelming to even think about going into a prison, we agreed to go. I saw people radically changed. Eventually, I ended up leading the ministry that went into prisons and shared the Gospel on the streets of New York as part of the Brooklyn Tabernacle.

When we started Saints Church in 1985, I wanted to keep going into prison. Not only is this the sort of ministry that Jesus commands all of us to do, but the dividends of prison ministry are huge. Most people know somebody in prison somewhere. When you open your doors to people who have been impacted by incarceration, you end up receiving a great blessing.

Brother Daniel Washington is an example of the blessing our church has experienced. After coming out of prison himself, he and his wife started to attend Saints Church. They have blessed our congregation in so many ways. You may not have a Brother Washington in your church, but that’s where Prison Fellowship® comes in. They give you the training, tools, and direction you need to follow Jesus’ call.

Daniel Washington leads the prison ministry at Saints Church in New York City and serves on staff at Prison Fellowship as a prison ministry manager.

In 1991, I was serving time in South Carolina when a group of volunteers came in to do what we now call Prison Fellowship Grow. For six and a half years, a group of 12 of them came every week. Combined those 12 may have missed five meetings in all that time.  That level of commitment really sparked something in me. I asked myself, How could somebody who does not look like me and maybe is not even able to relate to me come and be so loving?

My kids were also recipients of Prison Fellowship Angel Tree® while I was in prison. It helped me stay connected to my kids. And I was amazed that there were people out there who didn’t even know me but cared about my family. When I got out, I started Angel Tree at my mom’s church. She was a pastor. One of the reasons she was so insistent that I do Angel Tree was because my children were recipients. She saw—and I did too—how impactful it can be. I wanted to lead by example. I’ve now been volunteering with Angel Tree for nearly 30 years—20 of those years with Saints Church.

People who have been incarcerated are often stigmatized—seen as criminals, thieves, and untrustworthy. But even though I am formerly incarcerated, Pastor Durso put his trust in me. A lot of people coming out of prison carry shame and feel people see them as just a person with a record. Churches need to understand that we are all made in the image of God.

This year we are celebrating this truth by hosting a Second Chance® Sunday at Saints Church. My prayer and hope are that folks will be energized—that something will ignite a fire within them. I hope to see churches come out of the woodwork and say, “Hey, how do we get involved?”