Community Chaplaincy
Majors Lawrie and Angie Brown
It must have been an enormous decision for Abraham to set out from his homeland for an unknown destination.  Similarly, both Angie and I were quite secure and happy with Corps ministry, but our comfort zones were soon to be shaken.
Last March we were called for an interview at THQ and told that as from June 2001 we would be seconded from The Salvation Army to the Churches Criminal Justice Forum.  This is a small Advisory Group supported by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland with links into the Home Office on matters concerning the Churches' role with Criminal Justice issues.
Our new work was to be pioneering Community Chaplaincy around the country.  This is a new initiative supporting ex offenders, which aims to break the 'revolving door' syndrome, ie prisoners leaving prison having served a sentence, and immediately re-offending and back to prison because various existing support systems have not been engaged.  In fact, for those serving sentences of less than twelve months, there is no statutory support at all.
According to a colleague, quote, "I will never forget the look of surprise on your faces when you were told this was to be your new work".  Many questions began to flow through our minds.  Why us?  What can we offer?  Neither of us had had any real prison ministry experience to talk of.  The learning curve is still very steep, but we have to say the work is very rewarding.
Community Chaplaincy is a faith initiative and about partnerships.  It began in Canada more than 20 years ago, when the Revd Dr Pierre Allard realised that the church, with a traditional caring role in society, was failing in the area of support to those being released from prison.  He mobilised a group of Christian people to meet ex offenders at the prison gate, providing, for a short period of time, the necessary support while they re-integrated into the community from which they came.  Canada now has a proven record of success in tackling the 'revolving door' syndrome. 
Some Salvationists will remember that the Army once had a 'Prison Gate' ministry run on similar lines.
Already three pilot schemes have been set up under the direction of Revd Bob Payne, one of the country's four Assistant Chaplains General.  Along with his Anglican responsibilities of maintaining a