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If we’re going to say prison ministry works, we need to know it works on a wide scale, not just for a lucky few. In other words … we need hard evidence. Leigh Jones talks to sociologist Byron Johnson about how decades of research shows that prison ministry really can facilitate true rehabilitation. And Anna Johansen Brown and Jenny Rough meet two men who are living proof of that life-changing transformation. Support Effective Compassion today at wng.org/donate. Additional support comes from World Help, a Christian humanitarian organization working to deliver food and Bibles to starving, persecuted Christians in North Korea, one of the most dangerous nations for Christians. A gift of $20 sends a Bible and a week's worth of food to a North Korean brother or sister. More at worldhelp.net/podcast/. North Korea is one of the most secretive, closed-off countries in the world, but World Help has a network of trusted partners there with 20+ years of experience smuggling Bibles and other aid to believers. These partners use donations to print, ship, and secretly distribute Bibles as well as food to people who have been desperately praying for help. And since North Koreans share their Bibles with trusted family and friends, each copy impacts around five people. Click here to learn more and donate.

Evangelism and discipleship forms the foundation of prison ministry behind bars. But those spiritual supports are just as important for inmates transitioning back to the free world. Unfortunately, they’re much less common. Leigh Jones visits two ministries in Texas that help inmates along the process of sanctification—living out the life of faith they embraced behind bars. Support Effective Compassion today at wng.org/donate. Additional support comes from World Help, a Christian humanitarian organization working to deliver food and Bibles to starving, persecuted Christians in North Korea, one of the most dangerous nations for Christians. A gift of $20 sends a Bible and a week's worth of food to a North Korean brother or sister. More at worldhelp.net/podcast/. North Korea is one of the most secretive, closed-off countries in the world, but World Help has a network of trusted partners there with 20+ years of experience smuggling Bibles and other aid to believers. These partners use donations to print, ship, and secretly distribute Bibles as well as food to people who have been desperately praying for help. And since North Koreans share their Bibles with trusted family and friends, each copy impacts around five people.Click here to learn more and donate.

Every year, more than 600,000 men and women convicted of serious crimes are released from U.S. federal and state prisons. Within three years of release, as many as two out of three of them are rearrested. And more than half go back to prison. That’s partly because they just don’t know how to live life on the outside. Sarah Schweinsberg visits Christian ministries in California, Massachusetts, and South Carolina helping former inmates find stable housing and jobs … and keep them. Support Effective Compassion today at wng.org/donate. Additional support comes from World Help, a Christian humanitarian organization working to deliver food and Bibles to starving, persecuted Christians in North Korea, one of the most dangerous nations for Christians. A gift of $20 sends a Bible and a week's worth of food to a North Korean brother or sister. More at worldhelp.net/podcast/. North Korea is one of the most secretive, closed-off countries in the world, but World Help has a network of trusted partners there with 20+ years of experience smuggling Bibles and other aid to believers. These partners use donations to print, ship, and secretly distribute Bibles as well as food to people who have been desperately praying for help. And since North Koreans share their Bibles with trusted family and friends, each copy impacts around five people.Click here to learn more and donate.

For every one inmate there are countless family members abandoned and left to hold together what’s left of their broken lives. Providing them the personal and spiritual essentials of Effective Compassion is fairly straightforward. And that goes a long way to encouraging—or challenging—families to stay the course when it would be easier to give up on their loved ones behind bars. Bonnie Pritchett meets Christians in Texas working to show that God, who created the family, cares about theirs and they are not serving time on the outside alone.Support Effective Compassion today at wng.org/donate. Additional support comes from World Help, a Christian humanitarian organization working to deliver food and Bibles to starving, persecuted Christians in North Korea, one of the most dangerous nations for Christians. A gift of $20 sends a Bible and a week's worth of food to a North Korean brother or sister. More at worldhelp.net/podcast/.North Korea is one of the most secretive, closed-off countries in the world, but World Help has a network of trusted partners there with 20+ years of experience smuggling Bibles and other aid to believers. These partners use donations to print, ship, and secretly distribute Bibles as well as food to people who have been desperately praying for help. And since North Koreans share their Bibles with trusted family and friends, each copy impacts around five people. Click here to learn more and donate.

Education is a key component to preparing inmates for life after prison. If they can’t provide for themselves and their families, they’re much more likely to return to a life of crime. Christian colleges and seminaries are among the schools going behind bars to teach marketable skills and offer four-year degrees. Jenny Rough visits a prison in Mississippi and talks to teachers and students in West Virginia to learn about college on the inside. Support Effective Compassion today at wng.org/donate. Additional support comes from World Help, a Christian humanitarian organization working to deliver food and Bibles to starving, persecuted Christians in North Korea, one of the most dangerous nations for Christians. A gift of $20 sends a Bible and a week's worth of food to a North Korean brother or sister. More at worldhelp.net/podcast/. North Korea is one of the most secretive, closed-off countries in the world, but World Help has a network of trusted partners there with 20+ years of experience smuggling Bibles and other aid to believers. These partners use donations to print, ship, and secretly distribute Bibles as well as food to people who have been desperately praying for help. And since North Koreans share their Bibles with trusted family and friends, each copy impacts around five people. Click here to learn more and donate.

Prisoners who meet Jesus behind bars experience true transformation. That’s the power of the gospel in prison. The basic building block of all prison ministry. It usually starts with Christians on the outside. But once prisoners grasp the meaning of grace, their testimony and changed lives make them even more effective at sharing the good news on the inside. Bonnie Pritchett visits several prisons in Texas to meet inmates who found Jesus and are now serving a life sentence as his prisoner.Support Effective Compassion today at wng.org/donate. Additional support comes from World Help, a Christian humanitarian organization working to deliver food and Bibles to starving, persecuted Christians in North Korea, one of the most dangerous nations for Christians. A gift of $20 sends a Bible and a week's worth of food to a North Korean brother or sister. More at worldhelp.net/podcast/.North Korea is one of the most secretive, closed-off countries in the world, but World Help has a network of trusted partners there with 20+ years of experience smuggling Bibles and other aid to believers. These partners use donations to print, ship, and secretly distribute Bibles as well as food to people who have been desperately praying for help. And since North Koreans share their Bibles with trusted family and friends, each copy impacts around five people. Click here to learn more and donate.

Many of the inmates in U.S. prisons have experienced trauma. Sexual abuse. Physical abuse. Substance abuse. Exposure to violence. Abandonment. Even those who meet Christ behind bars still bear the wounds of their past experiences. And chaplains are starting to realize that until those wounds are healed, inmates will continue to struggle with true transformation. Jenny Rough meets an incarcerated veteran who overcame his own past and now helps others to do the same. Support Effective Compassion today at wng.org/donate. Additional support comes from World Help, a Christian humanitarian organization working to deliver food and Bibles to starving, persecuted Christians in North Korea, one of the most dangerous nations for Christians. A gift of $20 sends a Bible and a week’s worth of food to a North Korean brother or sister. More at worldhelp.net/podcast.

Nearly half of all prisoners sitting in federal cells are behind bars because they committed drug-related offenses. And for many of them, breaking the law started with addiction. But not everyone convicted of doing or dealing drugs ends up in prison. Some get a second chance through a unique system known as drug court. It’s a secular solution to what is ultimately a spiritual problem. But even here, Christians are making a difference. Kim Henderson visited the 14th Circuit Drug Court in McComb, Mississippi, to find out how. Support Effective Compassion today at wng.org/donate. Additional support comes from World Help, a Christian humanitarian organization working to deliver food and Bibles to starving, persecuted Christians in North Korea, one of the most dangerous nations for Christians. A gift of $20 sends a Bible and a week’s worth of food to a North Korean brother or sister. More at worldhelp.net/podcast.

Almost everyone in prison has one thing in common: trauma and brokenness. They come from shattered and impoverished communities, dysfunctional families. They never imagined a future that didn’t include time behind bars. In many cases that’s because the people closest to them walked the same path. Reporter Sarah Schweinsberg travels to California and Massachusetts to meet Christians working to break that cycle, starting with its youngest victims.Support Effective Compassion today at wng.org/donate. Additional support comes from World Help, a Christian humanitarian organization working to deliver food and Bibles to starving, persecuted Christians in North Korea, the most dangerous nation for Christians. A gift of $20 sends a Bible and a week's worth of food to a North Korean brother or sister. More at worldhelp.net/podcast.

The U.S. prison system began with the best intentions. Reform was its top priority. That resolve eroded over time, and now America imprisons more people per capita than any country in the world. And people who end up in prison almost always come out worse off than they were before. The one bright spot in an otherwise hopeless situation: Christians who go behind bars to share the power of the gospel and the hope of new life.Support Effective Compassion today at wng.org/donate. Additional support comes from World Help, a Christian humanitarian organization working to deliver food and Bibles to starving, persecuted Christians in North Korea, the most dangerous nation for Christians. A gift of $20 sends a Bible and a week's worth of food to a North Korean brother or sister. More at worldhelp.net/podcast.

Season 3 of Effective Compassion starts January 18th! This year, we are going to prison.We’ll explore three areas where Christians are active in ministering to inmates. First, pipelines to prison. How are Christians intervening in the lives of kids and adults who are likely to end up in jail? Second, ministry behind bars. Leading inmates to a saving faith in Jesus and teaching them to live lives that glorify God, even if they’re facing a lifetime in lockup. And third, breaking the cycle of recidivism. How can Christians help inmates settle into productive patterns of work and service after their release?U.S. prisons are too often focused on punishment as an incentive for changing behavior. But Christians know true change starts with the heart, and only Jesus can bring a man from death to life. Support Effective Compassion today at wng.org/donate. Additional support comes from World Help, a Christian humanitarian organization working to deliver food and Bibles to starving, persecuted Christians in North Korea, one of the most dangerous nations for Christians. A gift of $20 sends a Bible and a week’s worth of food to a North Korean brother or sister. More at worldhelp.net/podcast.

Every year, WORLD recognizes a handful of non-profit ministries serving on the front lines of poverty fighting. Those ministries are nominated by WORLD readers and listeners. We call it our annual Hope Awards. In this episode of Effective Compassion, we highlight the four finalists for 2021.

In this final episode, journalists Anna Johansen Brown and Sarah Schweinsberg visit two organizations with similar goals: They want to help the homeless, people who have lost everything and have nowhere to go. But these two organizations chose different strategies … and ultimately, got very different results.

Nonprofits, both Christian and secular, have to watch out for some common pitfalls that threaten to undo all their hard work. In this episode, journalists Anna Johansen Brown and Sarah Schweinsberg recount five cautionary tales from organizations that failed due to a lack of accountability, transparency, or an accurate understanding of what the people they wanted to help really needed.

Every year, WORLD hosts the Hope Awards for Effective Compassion. Readers and listeners nominate hundreds of ministries, and we narrow the list to about eight or 10 semi-finalists. Just four make the final cut. This episode is about the runners-up. Journalists Anna Johansen Brown and Sarah Schweinsberg visit two ministries that didn’t win in 2019 and explain what bumped them out of the winner’s circle.

Just about anyone working in mental healthcare, criminal justice, or social work will agree: people with mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders face a difficult road. This episode is about the 50 million Americans dealing with mental illness. Journalists Anna Johansen Brown and Sarah Schweinsberg talk to some of the Christians who are there to help, working to put the challenging, personal and spiritual into behavioral health care.

Many of the people who struggle with addiction or homelessness grew up with a family member with unhealthy habits. Or they experienced abuse. Some didn’t have a family at all. Coming from a good family doesn’t guarantee a trouble-free life. But having a shaky family foundation makes everything a lot harder. In this episode, journalists Anna Johansen Brown and Sarah Schweinsberg explore what compassion looks like for hurting children, young adults, and their parents.

This episode is about newcomers: Refugees and asylum seekers looking for a fresh start. Journalists Anna Johansen Brown and Sarah Schweinsberg explain how refugee resettlement works and visit several ministries that help these newcomers become self-sufficient in their new homes.

Natural disasters are disruptive and traumatic, especially for people already in emotional, physical, or spiritual crisis. Last year, every compassion ministry in the country faced the same disaster: COVID-19. Journalists Anna Johansen Brown and Sarah Schweinsberg explore the ways the pandemic made ministry more difficult and challenged leaders to rethink the ways they help people in need.

This episode of Effective Compassion is part two of our dive into addiction and substance abuse: The cauldron of stewing ingredients that leads to it, and the intense, drastic life-renewal strategies that help vanquish it. Journalists Anna Johansen Brown and Sarah Schweinsberg visit three ministries that take different approaches to helping addicts begin new lives.