A pastor remembers his calling, even from his cell in a Liberian prison.
Pastor Emmanuel, 48, has spent the past 10 years in a Liberian prison, often overcome by grief mixed with anger at where’s he’s ended up.
Hopelessness can spread as quickly as disease in the overcrowded, unhygienic cell blocks. Many of the inmates can wait years even to understand why they’ve been locked up. Trial dates and legal help are a luxury, and there’s a general assumption among prisoners that they’ve been sent there to die.
Emmanuel was locked up 10 years ago but is learning to walk with Jesus Christ, and lead others to Him, behind bars.
When arrested at age 38, Emmanuel was an outspoken Christian pastor. He believes he was unjustly imprisoned due to pressure from traditional African religionists who did not like him speaking against their practices. In prison, he swiftly began to believe he’d been forgotten. He felt forgotten—even by God.
“When I thought about this, all I had been through, anger would come to me,” he said.
One day last year, he began studying with a Samaritan’s Purse chaplain in the prison common area. The chaplain had started a series of 11-week discipleship courses designed for inmates.
As the class studied through the Bible, Emmanuel’s faith was stirred up again, and he embraced the hope he had once preached to his congregants about the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Emmanuel prepares for a message that he will deliver to fellow inmates. “I am able to preach here. It is a privilege given to me only by the grace of God,” he said.
In lesson 10, he read about the path of unchecked anger. “It leads to destruction,” Emmanuel said. During these lessons, God broke through what had been overwhelming darkness in his life.
God used a prison chaplain, willing to invest weeks at Monrovia Central Prison, to help the pastor remember that his ultimate calling in Christ never changed.
“God sent Samaritan’s Purse to comfort me with the Word of God, and encourage me that, no matter the situation, we are called to go boldly to tell others,” he said. “It changed my life.”
Unexpected Freedom within Prison Walls
These days Emmanuel can clearly see a new path, and seldom are his days defined by anger at what he’s experienced.
“I am grateful to God for giving me the strength to stay here,” he said, actually smiling as he talked about it. “God has helped me. He has filled me, even in this place.”
For 11 weeks our chaplain to the prison takes inmates through Bible courses on discipleship and evangelism.
Emmanuel has been serving as a pastor to his fellow inmates ever since going through the Samaritan’s Purse course. He also invites others to join the discipleship study so they too can know the freedom offered to them through Jesus Christ.
He now helps lead the course in concert with chaplains, encouraging fellow inmates in prayer and worship and instructing them from the Word of God. The prison today allows him to preach in the cell blocks, even to inmates not enrolled in the courses.
“I am able to preach here. It is a privilege given to me only by the grace of God,” Emmanuel said.
On many mornings, Emmanuel wakes in his cell, looks around at the other men, and rejoices in his heart about this new congregation that God has given him. His favorite Bible verse to recall is from the latter part of Revelation 2:10: “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
“Physically, spiritually, I feel free,” he said. “At times, it’s like I don’t know that I am in prison.”
Please pray for the continuing Samaritan’s Purse outreach among prisoners in Liberia. Pray for strength for Emmanuel and for many to come to Christ.
Inmates gather for prayer each week during the class, where they are learning how to follow Jesus Christ no matter where they are.
