Those who have followed Clear and Simple Media for some time will know that our resources were initially written anticipating translation. That is why our style is straightforward, “clear, and simple.” That meant our books and articles were easy to translate and difficult to mistranslate – even for those using Computer Assisted Translation tools. That style also was ideally suited for new English readers. Soon, CSM materials became tools for ESL teachers worldwide and churches in North America who would work to reach immigrants and refugees. Some use the books as outreach materials. Others use them as supplemental texts to teach English to new Canadians/Americans. 

Those applications were something that we anticipated. However, several places where our materials have proven helpful have surprised us. One of those is prison ministry.

It will not surprise anyone that men and women who find themselves incarcerated often have experienced an “interrupted education.” And that is a lot of people. According to Prison Policy (.org):

“…the U.S. doesn’t have one criminal legal system; instead, we have thousands of federal, state, local, and tribal systems. Together, these systems hold over 1.9 million people in 1,566 state prisons, 98 federal prisons, 3,116 local jails, 1,323 juvenile correctional facilities, 142 immigration detention facilities, and 80 Indian country jails, as well as in military prisons, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in the U.S. territories.” 

One of the resources necessary to reach that population with the Gospel is easy-access, simple reading materials. And, as it turns out, books that are “linguistically simple, theologically clear, and biblically faithful” are – to quote one volunteer prison chaplain, “Exactly the tools I need to help us reach my guys for Jesus.” 

As we reported previously, a few months ago, we connected with Prison Fellowship Ministries headquartered in Merrifield, VA, near Washington, DC. Prison Fellowship was founded by Charles Colson in 1976. PFM is “the nation’s largest Christian nonprofit equipping the Church to serve currently and formerly incarcerated people and their families, and to advocate for justice and human dignity both inside and outside of prison.” That is why we were quite willing to provide our books and materials to PFM to be included in their Chaplain’s Resource library for use in the facilities where they have influence. At first, only the English and Spanish versions of Simple Truths for the New Believer and the Travel Guide to the Bible would be available for download in both English and Spanish. PFM selected these two to test the interest in the materials, and if the interest were sufficient, they would add additional CSM resources. Here is a summary of our most frequent correspondences with PFM.

Tom,

We have feedback cards that are coming in from the resources distributed. I will be sure to forward any feedback from your resources. Please know that Prison Fellowship continues working toward new digital content strategies. Our team is working on content plans for tablets in prison. It is a plan for 2025-2026. For now, I would love to continue distributing this content through our Chaplain Storehouse…getting the content in the hands of the men and women in prison. 

Thank you for your partnership! 

Danielle

Travel Guide to the Bible (English): 20 downloads; Travel Guide to the Bible (Spanish): 7 downloads; Simple Answers to Not So Simple Questions: 23 downloads; Simple Answers Workbook: 29 downloads [Interesting that the workbook had more downloads than the book].

As I mentioned previously, we are looking to print 500 copies of the Travel Guide and 500 copies of Simple Answers to begin. We may consider printing larger quantities down the road.  

We are quite pleased (and humbled) to be connected with such a significant work. If you want to learn more about the Prison Fellowship, particularly the Chaplain’s Toolbox that we are involved in, take three minutes to check out THIS PFM VIDEO.