Reaching Those in Prison with the Gift of Scripture
In God’s providence the Canadian Lord’s Day Association has been privileged to oversee the publication and distribution of scripture diaries and correspondence courses to those behind bars for more than 25 years. Since 1996 your donations and support have enabled us to distribute more than 1.5 million copies. Even amidst the difficulties of the pandemic we were able to distribute 145,000 English and 3,000 French 2021 Diaries. May the Lord continue to incline churches and the hearts of individuals to support this simple ministry. Let us pray that seed of His Word may be made fruitful, “some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold".
While most prisons allow few types of mission work, remarkably they welcome the CLDA Scripture Diary. Certainly we must be humbled that there remains an open door, in God's providence, for providing His Word. The CLDA Scripture Diary is one of the few possessions a prisoner is allowed to have, which is one reason for its popularity. Another reason is that it gives the prisoner a sense of hope for the future as they tick off the days toward their release date. For others, the diary is the one link to the outside world as they record family birthdays and anniversaries and, more importantly to them, visiting day.
The greatest value of the diary, however, is in the daily scripture verses and the reminder to inmates that each week begins with the Lord's Day. One prisoner who wrote to us requesting the diary explained that he has between eight and ten hours a day to study, read and meditate. He told us that he has taken up the practice of memorizing the daily scripture verse provided in the diary. For many inmates, the diary is one of the only Christian reading materials accepted by them. Often our diary is a gateway to inmates requesting our Bible Correspondence course or complete Authorized Version Bibles which are kindly sent out by the Trinitarian Bible Society.
While our nation and churches seem to be increasingly unreachable, who knows but that our prisoners will receive instruction? Were not the servants of the king sent into the highways? And we read that they "gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests" (Matt. 22:10).