I’ve recently joined the North Yorkshire Probation Service. It’s difficult to say fully what the Christian voice would look like in the probation service as I know there’s a lot of reservation and mistrust concerning Christians, probably historical or whatever BUT one thing I have noticed is that if a colleague opens up to talk about a personal crisis and I offer to pray for them, not directly there and then, coz I think that would be too off putting, although that has happened - but more generally if our church will pray for them or I’ll pray for them… I’ve never met a refusal and nearly everyone has said how much it’s meant to them.

 

Have you ever prayed for somebody specifically and you’ve come back and there’s been an answer to prayer?

 

Yeah – the guy was probably on the fringes of church anyway but certainly wouldn’t call himself a believer. 

 

Is this a colleague?

 

This was a colleague – it would be very difficult to pray for an offender in the probation service coz that would be seen as proselytising and pushing your faith but certainly there is a possibility to direct offenders towards faith groups and so if someone has got a hint of a faith it’s certainly in keeping with our jobs to tie them into a resource – which would be the church. 

 

In the workplace a colleague said he had a medical condition and he was really scared about what it might be. I knew he had a kind of link in with the church although not a faith so I volunteered to pray with him there and then in his office and we did. He was very grateful for it and although I did lose touch with him, so I couldn’t say if there was a positive answer, he is still with us. I know he genuinely did have a health concern! So I know that whenever I do see him, he comments back on it and how much he valued it.

 

(This info was spoken into a dictaphone and kept word for word where possible)