Hope Behind Bars | 囚牢中的希望

My name is José Luis Maldonado. I am an Evangelical Pastor living in Langue Valle, Honduras in Central America. Allow me to share with you about the ministry I carry out in various prisons in our country.

For 13 years, God placed a burden on my heart to carry and share the gospel with those deprived of liberty in prisons and,  in this way,  show each person the love of God so that they may believe in the Lord Jesus and be saved, since for many Christians, this work does not represent any interest. Rather, they are viewed with contempt.

But I am convinced these people are very in need of God's love, and it is better for us as a church to show it to them through actions and not just words. To such a degree that this belief led me to make arrangements with the prison authorities so that they would not only provide me with permits to enter the prisons and share the gospel, but also I can give the prisoners something to eat as well as some supplies for personal hygiene, since the majority of people in these places are despised by society and, in many cases, they are even abandoned by their families and friends.

Throughout these 13 years, I have experienced God's love and His support to fulfill the mission and call in this prison ministry, managing to share the gospel with thousands of people, hundreds of whom have made the decision to surrender their lives to Jesus as Lord and Savior of their lives.

I want to highlight, first of all, that without the support of our God, this would not have been possible, just like the support received from Living Hope in the last 5 years has been of great value in fulfilling the mission that my Lord placed in my heart for more than a decade. It is important to mention that each of the visits we receive from the groups in various months of the year motivates the brothers inside the prisons to continue their path of following Jesus as the Lord and Savior of their lives. Besides the support provided to every inmate by delivering a personal hygiene kit and some food, most importantly,  with each testimony shared by several of the brothers on their visits and, of course, the gospel of the Kingdom,  more inmates have put their faith in Jesus. It also allows Christian inmates’ faith in Christ to be strengthened every day.

In this entire process of sharing the gospel for several years, we also saw the need to base the faith in Christ for Christians within prisons, so with the support of Living Hope, we implemented Christian discipleship starting 5 years ago in Nacaome prison. At the end of 2023, we decided to expand this discipleship to two more prisons, the Choluteca prison and the La Paz prison, with the vision of continuing to expand, if our God allows us so that more inmate believers may learn systematically and grow in faith. I am so grateful to our Lord for allowing me to share this ministry with you. Let us pray together and seek God’s guidance. May God bless you abundantly!

我叫José Luis Maldonado，是一名福音派牧師，我住在中美洲洪都拉斯的蘭蓋地區，我想和您分享一下我在洪都拉斯幾個監獄裡的福音事工。

13年來，神給了我一個很重的負擔，讓我去監獄與那些被囚禁的犯人分享福音，以此向他們展示神的慈愛，把他們帶到神的面前，信主得救。許多基督徒對這項事工並不感興趣，甚至還相當藐視。

但我深深相信，這些人非常需要神的愛，更需要教會能用行動而不是單單用言語讓他們感受到神是愛他們的。基於這一信念，我與監獄當局進行了協商，不僅獲得了進入監獄傳福音的許可，還能夠為囚犯提供食物和個人衛生用品。因為監獄裡的大多數人都是被社會鄙視，很多人也被他們的家人和朋友所離棄。

在這13年裡，我經歷了神的慈愛和祂的供應，得以履行監獄事工的使命和呼召，並已經與成千上萬名犯人分享了福音，其中有數百人決志悔改，將自己的生命交托給主耶穌，作為他們個人的救主。

首先，我想強調的是，如果沒有神的保守和供應，這項事工是無法開展的。同樣，在過去五年中，來自“新希望全球事工”的支持也彌足珍貴，使我能夠履行主十多年來放在我心中的使命。值得一提的是，在一年中的幾個月裡，新希望全球事工帶領的短宣隊的每一次探訪都激勵了監獄裡的基督徒弟兄們，使他們繼續跟隨主耶穌基督，讓救主帶領他們前面的路。每次他們去探訪，除了給每一位獄友帶去個人衛生用品包和一些食物，最重要的是，短宣隊員會在探訪時分享他們個人的見證及天國福音，使更多的獄友因著他們的見證信主，也使得這些獄中的基督徒們對基督的信心每日得以提升和堅固。

在這些年來分享福音的整個過程中，我們看到了在監獄中讓基督徒信仰紮根的必要性，因此，在新希望全球事工的支持下，我們5年前在Nacaome(納卡奧梅)監獄開始了門徒培訓。2023年年底，我們決定將門徒培訓服事擴大到另外兩所監獄，即Choluteca(喬盧特卡)和La Paz(拉巴斯)監獄，使得獄友在信主後可以系統地學習和成長。如果神允許，差遣有負擔和使命服事監獄的同工加入我們，那麼監獄事工就可以繼續擴大規模。 感謝主能夠讓我與您分享這樣的事工。 讓我們一同禱告尋求神的帶領和保守。 願神大大祝福您！