CJM provides a wide variety of individual
activities for inmates at the Howard County Detention Center
(HCDC). These include One-on-One Discipleship Training,
Pastoral Counseling, Bible Correspondence Courses, Christian
Literature, and Ice Breaking/Personal Work:
One-on-one Discipleship Training.
A volunteer meets with the same inmate each week for a
structured discipleship study using the New Christian’s
Survival Kit and to develop a supportive, encouraging
relationship with the inmate. About half of the hour the
volunteer spends with his inmate involves the structured
study and the other half is spent sharing experiences,
prayer, and concerns. Often this relationship continues
after the inmate returns to the community, sometimes with
the volunteer serving as one of the mentors for the former
inmate in CJM’s After Care Program.
Pastoral Counseling
By CJM chaplains and local clergy.
Bible Correspondence Courses.
CJM provides two series of Bible correspondence course
lessons for HCDC inmates. One series studies different books
of the New Testament. The other series studies topics from a
Biblical perspective. Inmates who complete all of the
lessons in both series are awarded a very nice study Bible.
These lessons are graded locally by CJM volunteers at a
grading center located in Bethel Baptist Church
(Ellicott City, MD). Inmates likely to be at HCDC for a
prolonged period who have completed all of these Bible
correspondence courses and who are interested in in-depth
study of the Bible can be enrolled in correspondence courses
from various Bible colleges (such as the Moody Bible
Institute in Chicago or the Washington Bible College).
Christian Literature.
CJM provides a variety of religious books, tracts, and
Scriptures for HCDC inmates without charge.
The CJM Poetry Program is both an individual activity in
which inmates provide poems for review by the Poetry Program
leader, an award winning poet, and a group activity in which
inmates share and discuss poetry.
Ice-Breaking and Personal Work.
Some CJM volunteers and the CJM chaplains visit inmates in
their housing areas to talk with them informally and to
encourage them to participate in the spiritual programs at
HCDC.
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