A Christmas Message

From PFI President & CEO, Andrew Corley

Charles Dickens created some of the world’s best-known fictional characters and is one of the Victorian era’s great novelists. His stories still speak to us today. What is less well known is that Dickens was a believer and a follower of Christ and much of his writing is the result of personal experience. What is even more interesting is that he was the child of a prisoner.

Fired by righteous indignation stemming from his situation and the conditions of the poor in his time these became major themes of his work.

In A Christmas Carol, which sums up some of the major themes, we see Ebenezer Scrooge’s heart change. He starts with the immortal line “Bah Humbug!”… cold and hard, unable to think of others…..but Scrooge’s eyes are opened, and eventually he treats others with kindness, generosity, and compassion, embodying the spirit of Christmas

His life was transformed by perspective, understanding, and generosity.

I also want to encourage you with these words from the mouth of the creator of the Universe, whose birth as the fully God and fully human one we celebrate at this time:

“The Son of Man will come again with divine greatness, and all his angels will come with him. He will sit as king on his great and glorious throne. All the people of the world will be gathered before him. Then he will separate everyone into two groups. It will be like a shepherd separating his sheep from his goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the king will say to the godly people on his right, ‘Come, my Father has great blessings for you. The kingdom he promised is now yours. It has been prepared for you since the world was made. It is yours because when I was hungry, you gave me food to eat. When I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I had no place to stay, you welcomed me into your home. When I was without clothes, you gave me something to wear. When I was sick, you cared for me. When I was in prison, you came to visit me.’ “Then the godly people will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and give you food? When did we see you thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you with no place to stay and welcome you into our home? When did we see you without clothes and give you something to wear? When did we see you sick or in prison and care for you?’ “Then the king will answer, ‘The truth is, anything you did for any of my people here, you also did for me.’”
—‭‭Matthew‬ ‭25:31-40‬ ‭ERV‬‬‬‬‬‬

At Prison Fellowship International, this is our goal:

• We want to see heart transformation in the lives of prisoners, their families, and victims and to come alongside the global church and National Ministries to help them do this too.
• And, by God’s grace and power, it’s happening. It happened in the past when Chuck Colson founded this ministry 41 years ago, slowly growing its reach across the globe. And It’s happening now, with Prison Fellowship National Ministries in 116 countries around the world engaged in delivering our holistic impact programs.

Our wonderful donors, of which you are one, have risen again and again to the opportunity to partner with us. The impact is undeniable.

Thank you. You have no idea how appreciated you are.

And by the grace of God and with your support we are resolutely committed to accelerating into the future in 2021. This is the theme of our faith-filled strategic plan for next year.

It will continue because of the passion that God has placed in each of us, through the generosity of good people like yourselves and because it must according to the command of Jesus.

We still have many financial needs for this year and next. Would you help us with a special single gift at this critical time?

We are deeply grateful for your continued support, perspective, understanding, and generosity. And we cannot do this without you.

I sign off all my communication with the following signatory words: “We go because we must, we go well because we can”.

I might add “we also go because our wonderful supporters enable us to.”