Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year to you, your team, your family and all those we serve!
Billy, Steve, Gillian, Derek is the way that it has affected the prisoners who attended
it. The course is allowing the Gospel to tell the Gospel, in a prison-friendly way.
The group regularly meets groups of prisoners in Barlinnie, Kilmarnock and Greenock
prisons, to pray and discuss the Bible. Steve (a co-presenter of the course) shared his
testimony of becoming a Christian while in prison in order to encourage the groups that
‘’Jesus can, and does, change lives.”
The happiness of these young people is the best reward: "One year ago we have been
forgotten, despised, neglected. Now we can read and write and do drama. What a change in
our life for Christmas!" said one of the juveniles.
New focus on Angel Tree in Norway
‘Under the leadership of PF Norway’s new board member Elisabeth Vinje-Andersen a
project group has been formed to plan introducing Angel Tree as a sizable service to the
most vulnerable victims of crime, the children of the imprisoned. The Angel Tree activity in
Moss prison is no longer active, since this small prison has been closed down. But that did
not end the service. A few days ago two small children here in Norway received a
surprising visit from Tove in Moss, handing out Christmas gifts on behalf of a close relative
in Australia who no longer could reach them due to incarceration in Australia. Good
international networking – and a wonderful hand of love’. Ingvald Viken.
The Newsletter of PF Norway has just been released and focuses on Angel Tree. Available
upon request at the European Secretariat of PFI. If you’re interested to look what PF
Norway website look like, go to www.oneweb.no/pfn
:
• Pray for Prison Fellowship Italy as they will close the STP programme in January, ask blessings
upon the volunteers Carlo, Marcela, Daniela and the inmates, and the victims. Pray that PF Italy
leaders obtain a meeting with the chaplain general of Italian prisons too.
• Pray for the full recovery of Billy Gilvear the PF Guernsey Chairman and the dedicated team
which is increasing the activities and visits in prisons.
• Pray for abundant blessings in families of prisoners of Northern Ireland as they are running the
‘Christmas Hope’ programme (local version of Angel tree)
• Pray for PF Malta so that they may touch a growing number of prisoners and attract new
volunteers.
• Give thanks for PF Iceland and the new Board full of enthusiasm (see October’s issue of the
Newsletter)
• Give thanks with a grateful heart: PF Germany will open a new juvenile centre soon! (more news
in February’s issue! Don’t miss it!)
Let’s remember the major event of the year to come: PFI World Convocation in Toronto ! Please be
sure to arrange your registration, so that you could be considered for a scholarship, meant to assist
your participation. PFI Secretariat has launched the registration process early, so that the visa and
other travel arrangements could be arranged on time. If you have any questions, or need help with
the registration please contact the European Secretariat in Vevey, Switzerland.
PFK leaders
PRAYER REQUESTS
• Please pray for PF Albania restructuring and leadership change, so that the ministry may be
reinvigorated.
• Pray for the ambitious Angel Tree program of PF Russia led by Yan Volkov. More than
12,000 children of prisoners will be reached, so the ministry still needs to print 6,500 children
Bibles on top of the 3,500 they have already printed.
• Pray for PF Lithuania new programs – Angel Tree and Eyeglasses for prisoners.
• Pray for the Christmas program of PF Moldova in the women prison and the high security
men’s prison, as well as the volunteers Christmas visits to all the prisons in the country.
• Praise the Lord for the successful development of PF Ukraine project Reconciliation.
• Pray for PF Slovakia efforts to build relations of partnership with the new leadership of the
prison administration and the national volunteers conference in April 2011.
• Pray for Syrga Sarukieva, leader of prison ministry in the women prison, and Board member
of PF Kyrgyzstan. Her husband a supporter of the ministry died suddenly.and volunteers,
which will discuss programs for ministering to elderly and disabled prisoners and former
prisoners.
Resources
The PFI Washington Secretariat recently emailed PF World Convocation video
invitations to all national ministries. You can also view these videos on You Tube,
see links below. Feel free to send these invites out to those you think would benefit
from this special world conference.
ALL YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS FOR THE NEXT EUROPE NEWSLETTER ARE MORE THAN WELCOME:
Please send them to dalexandre@pfi.org (Western Europe) or isotirov@pfi.org (for Eastern Europe
and Central Asia)
PFI Europe News is brought to you by Prison Fellowship International. Compiled and edited every other
month by Dominique Alexandre and Ivan Sotirov - PFI Europe Secretariat, Rue du Panorama 4, 1800 Vevey, Switzerland
© 2010 by Prison Fellowship International - All rights reserved - Reprints permitted with acknowledgement