Crime is a moral and spiritual epidemic passed from generation to generation. Prison Fellowship, centered in Jesus Christ, recognizes that to save a world from crime, we must transform the hearts of criminals.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
— 2 Corinthians 5:17

In 1974 the Watergate scandal sent White House special counsel Chuck Colson to federal prison. A new Christian, he faced challenges and adversities that tested his faith and self respect.

Paroled in 1975, Chuck could easily have opted to close the book on that dark time and move on with his life as inconspicuously as possible. But Chuck knew that God wanted him to hold onto his ties to prison and continue to identify with his fellow prisoners-despite the skepticism and scorn of Chuck's critics.

So in 1976, with little more than a vision and the support of a few friends, Chuck began Prison Fellowship to proclaim to inmates the love and the power of Jesus Christ.

• 1977 – Prison Fellowship goes behind bars to minister
• 1979 – Britain catches the vision, and Prison Fellowship International takes off
• 1982 – Mary Kay Beard, an ex-bank robber and safe cracker, starts Angel Tree^®
• 1983 – Justice Fellowship is created to promote biblical standards within our justice system
• 1992 – Operation Starting Line takes evangelistic events into prison yards across the country
• 1997 – InnerChange Freedom Initiative^®, an intense reentry program, opens its first unit in Texas

Since the birth of Prison Fellowship more than three decades ago, God has brought us to the edge of great challenges that, from a human perspective, have threatened to engulf us. Instead, God opened up unimaginable opportunities to minister to prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families!

To Prison Fellowship, stewardship means doing what is best to reach and disciple to prisoners and their families. We take our financial responsibility and stewardship very seriously, adhering to rigorous ECFA standards.