Pray for YWAM’s Prison Ministries

The Invitation, August 14, 2025

Prisoners come in many shapes and sizes. One of YWAM’s prison ministry workers says he meets old and young, male and female, foreigners and locals, beggars and professionals. YWAM’s ministries to prisoners also come in many forms. They share the good news of forgiveness and restoration in Jesus. They provide vocational training, teaching skills like barbering and starting businesses. They provide books with inspiring Christian stories. And they help men and women after they are released. Please pray that these ministries among prisoners will flourish. Pray that it would be true that “God…leads out the prisoners with singing” (Psalm 68:5-6). Please take a moment to pray with us right now, and please also pray with us on August 14, the prayer day for YWAM’s prayer initiative called The Invitation.

Please take a moment to pray with us right now, and please also pray with us on August 14, the prayer day for YWAM’s prayer initiative called The Invitation.

1. Pray for prisoners and YWAM’s prison ministry worldwide. Pray that more Christians would start prison ministries so that prisons would become places of transformation for God’s glory. Pray that prisoners who have been converted would truly change and become good examples for others. Pray for comfort for victims of crime. Pray for families of prisoners, who often are ostracised in their communities, that they would not reject the prisoners for their mistakes. Pray for good networks of support for prisoners after their release.
2. Pray for YWAM’s work among six prisons in Bali, Indonesia. They are seeing prisoners come to faith and are providing training in hair cutting, cooking, and how to start a business. Some of the prisoners are from unreached people groups. Pray also for boldness in sharing the gospel, for empathy toward the prisoners, and for prisoners to come to faith and become witnesses to their families and communities.
3. Pray for Hope Prison Ministry, a partner ministry of YWAM in Muizenberg, South Africa. They provide a six-day restoration program in nearby prisons. This program allows healing to take place as inmates are reconciled to themselves and to God through Jesus, and ideally to their victims, families, and communities. Pray that participants would take the message to heart. The YWAM team has seen how prison ministry can literally be a matter of life and death. Xolani, one of the graduates of their program, was happy to receive early parole. But soon after he was shot dead as he walked to visit his children. Joanna, one of the members of the YWAM team, said, “This is the sad reality for many prisoners, as they have a lot of enemies in their communities. Even though their lives may have changed in prison, the lives of most people in their communities have not changed, and these people still hold a grudge. That is why it is important to reach people with the gospel while they are still in prison.”
4. Pray for YWAM Publishing’s donations of books to prisons. They have given over 130,000 Christian Heroes books in both English and Spanish to over 2,000 prisons in the USA, making them available to over two million inmates. Pray for hearts to be open to what God wants to say through these books. Please also pray for open doors to expand the program in Mexico. Also pray for continued donations to fund these programs.

Take Action

To reach the prison ministry in Bali, please email [email protected]. For the South Africa ministry, contact [email protected]. For YWAM Publishing, go to ywampublishing.com.

Also, consider if God might be leading you to prisoners near you. Nicolas, who has worked for many years in YWAM prison ministry, said, “Many biblical figures, such as Joseph, Paul, Jeremiah, Peter, Silas, Samson, John the Baptist, and Jesus were in jail, but there was a purpose for their lives. God had a plan to use them. In the jail nearest to where you are reading this, there are people whom God wants to redeem and use, because He has a purpose for them.”

Join The Invitation.

Sign up for prayer emails and find translations in many languages at ywam.org/theinvitation. Please contact us at [email protected] to let us know how you prayed, to recommend a prayer topic, or to request an advance copy of the prayer guide.