Kairos

Core Values

Kairos Prison Ministry Core Values guide our behavior and actions as a board, staff, and volunteers:

Lay led, Christ Centered Ministry We are Christians who believe in the Holy Trinity and honor and live the teachings of the Bible and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

We conduct the ministry while inviting all to attend as Guests or Participants in Weekends and program-specific follow-on activities to build Christian Community.

Empowerment while Building Accountability While we empower the local volunteers to conduct the ministry, we are accountable to excellence and performance at the highest standards and authority of the ministry.

We empower Guests or Participants to be accountable for their lives and be transformed by Jesus Christ.

Continuing Ministry Model to Build Community

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Women and men members of St. Francis are actively involved as Kairos Prison Ministry volunteers serving the women of Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women. Twice a year, teams enter the prison for a weekend event, in which participants are introduced to the ministry. Additionally volunteers go in every week for Prayer and Share and then once a month for a Group Reunion.

In addition to those who go into the prison, St. Francis parishioners are very supportive of this ministry by providing financial support, baking cookies, signing up for prayer chains and preparing cards and posters.

There is something for everyone to do who seeks to answer, Christ’s call to “visit the prisoner.”

I served on my first Kairos Prison Ministry weekend team in the spring of 2003. I entered those prison walls frightened and totally unsure of what to expect. Kairos motto is “Listen Listen Love Love.” I had not done the best job of listening and loving all of the other team members so I was wondering how in the world I was going to listen and love “criminals.”

On the first afternoon of the weekend, forty-two women entered the gymnasium where the event was being held: most had closed faces and defensive body language. Over the course of the weekend, I was amazed at the way everything changed. Where there had been doubt and defensiveness, I saw openness and joy; where there had been bitterness and pain, I saw contentment and healing. The Holy Spirit did a mighty work through the love and total acceptance of the team members. I was hooked! And have been involved in the ministry ever since.

- Janie Rainey

If you would like to know more about Kairos Prison Ministry as either a team member or in a support role, please contact Dolly Williams.