Kairos Facts
Kairos is a Christian, lay-led, ecumenical, volunteer, international prison ministry in which men and women volunteers bring Christ’s love and forgiveness to incarcerated individuals and to their families. Kairos consists of three programs: the Men’s and Women’s Ministry, begun in 1976, Kairos Outside, begun in 1991, and Kairos Torch, begun in 1997.
The Men’s and Women’s Kairos Inside Prison Ministry addresses the spiritual needs of prisoners. Kairos volunteers go into prisons in teams of 30 to 40 to pray, share the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ, share meals, and fellowship with the incarcerated on a one-to-one basis. The first visit is a three-day event, during which time the team teaches a short introductory course on Christianity. Subsequent visits are monthly half-day reunions with the prisoners which occur over a twelve-month period.
Kairos Outside provides spiritual healing to families of the incarcerated who often feel that they too are “doing time.” Spouses, parents, and other relatives of prisoners meet with teams of Kairos volunteers to share their faith and gain strength from Christian community.
Kairos Torch provides a ministry to youthful offenders which is the most rapidly growing segment of the prison system. This branch of Kairos has developed due to the fact that, to be successful, ministry to our youth (13 to 19 years of age) needs to have a very different tone than our methods directed toward adult offenders.
Kairos Prison Ministries currently operate within 33 of our United States; also in England, Australia, South Africa, Costa Rica, Honduras, Zimbabwe, and Canada. More than 200,000 incarcerated men and women have been introduced to Kairos since its inception. The current number of volunteers exceeds 35,000 per year.
Kairos Prison Ministries affect the lives of prisoners in countless positive ways. Through these changed lives former inmates re-enter society as better spouses, parents, and employees. Many released prisoners become volunteers and give back to society. Some start their own ministries and pastor churches; while others run re-entry programs and become mentors.
In 2003, Kairos volunteers donated over 3.5 million volunteer hours to the various correctional institutions both here and abroad. If you multiply 3.5 million times the minimum wage in the United States ($5.15 per hour), our ministry donated $18 million in volunteer time. In addition, Kairos volunteers purchased over $2 million for supplies, thus bringing a one year total volunteer contribution to society to over $20 million.
In 2004, we held 618 weekend programs at 309 ministry sites across the globe. That number breaks down to 502 Kairos Inside weekends, 80 Kairos Outside weekends, and 36 Torch weekends. The remaining volunteer time was spent in pre-weekend and post-weekend trainings and activities.
In addition to having a positive impact on prisoners, the Kairos program also has a very favorable impact on volunteers. Many volunteers acknowledge that the team training; with its emphasis on introspection, honesty, sharing, and community; has greatly enhanced their spirituality.
Kairos programs have also gained the respect of the correctional system. In a study of 505 inmates released from Florida prisons, the recidivism rate was 15.7% among those who had participated in one Kairos session and 10% among those who participated in two or more Kairos sessions. The non-Kairos control group in the study had a recidivism rate of 23.4%.
Because of the efforts of Kairos Prison Ministries the tax dollars saved are substantial. As one former prisoner put it: “It cost the government about $1,000,000 to try me and to imprison me for several years. But a $100 program keeps me out.” With that in mind, a dollar given to Kairos Prison Ministries will save thousands down the road!
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