PRISONERS FOR CHRIST OUTREACH MINISTRIES
SHELTON PRISON MINISTRY TEAM EXPECTATIONS
Revised March, 2011
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Group Leader Official contact and authority figure for the PFC team to the institution. All issues are handled through the Group Leader, be it inmate requests or inputs from the officers. Do what he says without question. Each service the group leader should check with the presiding corrections officer to ensure understanding of service ending times (occasionally there is a change and the group leader needs to know that). Responsible for counting attendance, counting salvations, and submitting PFC Service Report. Responsible to gather all drivers licenses from the team and giving to officers in morning and afternoon. Must also coordinate altar worker assignments for first service (R1, R2, R3), time permitting during that service. Only the Group Leader may ask for officers to remove an inmate who is disruptive in a service. (Training for group leader is in PFC-120, Basic Adult Training Part II, Teaming and Leadership)
Opener Introduce the team as being from Prisoners For Christ (everyone's names not important, but state that we come from various churches, and we're here not to preach a church, but Jesus Christ). This team comes once per month, and another PFC team comes once per month. State that we're here to lift up the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. PFC has a van transportation ministry for your loved ones to use to visit you, and we have a multi-part correspondence course to help you grow as a Christian. See the chaplain for details on the van ministry and the correspondence course. Open in prayer. Whole event should take 2-3 minutes and should be up beat and positive. Don't preach or teach or "ramble on."
Worship Start right away, even before the men are seated, but even as they are filing in. Break for the person doing the opening, then back to the worship (time permitting). Do not preach or turn to the Bible to read a scripture. Save that for the preacher. Time is short! (Training for worship leader is in PFCU-200 Music Team)
Preach Use Plenty of scripture. Organized. Focused. Clear. End on time!!! Be sure to look at the group leader occasionally, he'll tell you if your time is short. Each message should have a title and a principle Bible text. (Training for preaching and teaching is in PFCU-300 Practical Preaching and Teaching Workshop)
Close Altar call. Tie up your close with the subject of the message just preached. Reinforce the message. Bring people to a decision! End on time! This is the area most commonly neglected - and it must not be! Rehearse your close if need be, but make sure you do an altar close at EACH service. (This is non-negotiable.)
Helping All team members, except the group leader, should sit with the men during the services. Help at the altar calls. Help with literature (last two services). Group Leader should monitor every service from the back of the room.
CARDINAL RULES Do exactly what the institution says. Defer to the group leader in every situation. Never argue. Remain flexible. Stay positive. Act like a leader. DO NOT EXCEED YOUR ALLOTTED TIME. Have an attitude of prayer. Play for the team. Have fun. Grow. Every volunteer must attend PFCU-100, Basic Adult Training Part I, Fundamentals of Jail and Prison Ministry, within the first year of being a PFC volunteer.
VISION For those willing and able, my desire is to train you to handle all aspects of the Shelton prison team, including being a group leader, opener, testifier, preacher, closer (worship is a separate category). The more you can do, the better. One day you may lead a team at Shelton, or another team at another institution. This time with us can be used as training ground for seeing how to run a service and interact with team members and the inmates and the correctional staff and the chaplain.
New Guest Checklist No Contraband, no joking, defer to the group leader in all matters of question.
Shelton Checklist Bible, license, speaker, microphone and stand, email assignments, confirm next months team, cell phone, $, copies of the message or seminar when possible.
Team Member Expectations It is expected that all team members will do what they say and remain accountable to each other and to the mission of PFC. Unexcused or last-minute absences are a serious breach of trust. Whereas oversleeping or legitimate last-minute conflicts can occur, it is expected that all members will make every effort to fulfill their commitment to their ministry and to the team.
Full-Time Team Members In any calendar year a minimum of 9 out of 12 months of ministry is considered full-time. Because we cannot always foresee scheduling conflicts and even work-related conflicts can occur, 9 of 12 months is the minimum expectation. When possible 12 of 12 months is desired. The minimum attendance for a team member is 6 out of 12 months. Worship teams are expected to minister 6 of 12 months (when two worship groups are a part of each team).
Changing Teams Because schedules are coordinated well in advance, the practice of "switching to another team" on any given month is discouraged. Exceptions are when it is cleared with the group leaders a month in advance.
Attitude of Service It is expected that all PFC volunteers understand that they may not have a speaking role every month. Prayer support during the service and greeting inmates and literature handling is important and is not taken lightly. The majority of the time you will have a speaking role, but not always.
Ministry Philosophy This is YOUR ministry, not the group leader's or PFC's ministry. The group leader and PFC help facilitate YOUR ministry. Look upon Shelton as your mission field and your responsibility and your ministry. This will help you when you may be inclined to do something else and write it off as "there's already a lot of people going anyway."
The Scriptures When preaching, the CENTERPIECE of the message is the BIBLE and CHRIST. Your personal testimony can support the biblical message, but must not take the pre-eminence over it. This is policy for ongoing ministry. Guest ministry that has a particularly strong testimony can, under the group leader's approval, bring a testimony-centered message, but this exception to policy only applies to infrequent guest ministry and does not apply to established team members. Altar calls are ALWAYS required in every service.
Leadership Many persons on the Shelton teams are already leading other teams at other institutions and have led at Shelton as well. Regardless, on any given day at Shelton there is ONE designated group leader. That person is the authority figure to the team as well as to the officers and inmates. Thus everyone submits to the group leader without question such that there is one consistent voice to the institution. The leader is the leader because others on the team allow them to be the leader. It is not a position of lordship, rather it is a position of servantship.
The Ideal Team Team A and Team B ideally will have 6-8 persons. Those seven include: Group Leader, 4 preachers, 1-2 worship leaders, one trainee. Sometimes the group leader is also one of the preachers.
Teamwork Within the guidelines stated above, each person has the liberty to express himself and his ministry according to the gifts and talents and personality give to him by God Almighty. There must be a tolerance for differences in ministry approach one team member to another.
The Blessing Ministering with the Shelton team is a blessing. The volunteer should, with proper understanding of the expectation of the team and of their ministry, should thoroughly enjoy their ministry and their interaction with other team members. For your ministry to be long-term and effective you must ensure that other areas of your life (marriage, children, career, health, finances, church life, etc.) are in order and stable. Because we live in a fallen world and there is an enemy of our souls, sometimes we can get out of balance in an area of our life. If this happens, or looks like it's going to happen, contact your group leader or other close friend on the team and get counsel and mentoring in that area. Marriage problems are the fastest way to be removed from the team. We cannot win at work, win in ministry, and lose at home. We must get the victory in all areas of our lives.
Recruiting The ministry at Shelton is not for the faint of heart or the casual volunteer. The commitment involves a full Sunday, which means that the volunteer is away from his family and is away from his church. Both the spouse and pastor/church leadership should endorse and support the volunteer attending at Shelton.
Recruiting new volunteers is one of our responsibilities. But let us understand that recruiting at Shelton is different than many other institutions. Shelton is a critical mission field for the following reasons:
We minister to 300 - 450 inmates per day. Mistakes can cause major problems so maturity is required.
The inmates are primarily in transition from the country jail and to the prison they will serve their time at. We see them once only, maybe twice.
New inmates can be evangelized and then they become evangelists at their new prison.
New volunteers see what PFC had the capacity to do, as do special guest visitors (e.g. donors, officials, visiting ministry, etc.).
Because Shelton has so much at stake...
Volunteer behavior is critical - we must be on our best behavior.
Quality ministry is a requirement - come prepared and prayed-up.
Teamwork is essential - everyone must contribute at a high level.
We need the ministry of the Holy Spirit or we will fail.
New volunteers must be pre-screened and approved by the group leader to attend.
To recommend a new volunteer consider the following:
Their personal and spiritual lives must be stable. Special circumstances may require the approval of the Executive Director.
Advise them of the year-long commitment we're looking for (minimum 9 of 12 months).
Advise them of the once-per-month Sunday all-day ministry.
Advise them that there will be times when they have no speaking role but will be expected to show up anyway.
Advise them that we work as a team.
Advise them that Shelton requires its own in-prison orientation at Shelton and that it takes an entire evening.
Advise them that we train leaders as well as preachers and that they may one day be a group leader at another prison or jail. Do they want to do that?
Advise them that their life will never be the same again and prepare to be blessed at a level never before experienced!
If the potential volunteer agrees to all of this, and has the potential to commit to this kind of ministry, then put them in touch with an administrative Shelton group leader (Bob or Terry). The group leader will interview them over the phone and make the necessary arrangements for them to get a one-time pass (e.g. contact information, other information needed by the institution, establishing a date for joining the team, etc.).
Recruiting is a part of volunteer life at PFC. "New blood" keeps us sharp and fresh and in a teaching and training mode as well as being in a ministry mode. Reproduction is what grows and stabilizes the ministry!