This lunch and learn session with Rev. Derek Runge was given at Annual Conference on June 12, 2021. Derek identifies the importance of prison ministry, common misconceptions that those who go to prison and are released into society have within the church, and how the church interacts with them. He also explores how we can support prison ministries, halfway houses, and the goal of fostering discipleship and relationship with inmates and those on parole, as well as the role we play as the body of Christ with those who are released. Rev. Derek Runge serves Kimball Protestant Parish in Kimball, South Dakota.

One of the moments Pastor Derek shared from his prison ministry was, "I usually do an hour of prayer over our prison systems... And I just asked one of the ladies, I said, what can we be praying for you for?  And she said, 'I have been abused my whole life sexually, physically, emotionally... How am I able to believe that God loves me? What can he do to show me that?'"

"And that's what I love about working in the prison– volunteering, is they're willing to go into those deep conversations they're not there at surface level, they want to go deep and they'll ask you."

View the entire Lunch and Learn recording from June 12, 2021 here.

Screen capture from zoom recording of Rev. Derek Runge's lunch and learn session on prison ministry. Recorded on June 12, 2021, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.