Prison – The path to freedom

Steve Cossack (“Cossy”) has been involved in working with LCM in prisons for just on 4 years. “Mostly it’s an honour and a privilege” Says Cossy. “Over these years I have developed some good friendships; and had some amazing chances to share the Gospel with people who in ordinary circumstances would not be in a fit state to listen. In many cases prison has literally saved lives.”

“On numerous occasions I have seen men and women slowly waste away to skeletal, pathetic, babbling, psychological wrecks due to the twin evils of drugs and alcohol. They come and say “Cossy, I’m desperate, can you get me into rehab?” I try, but due to such a shortage of suitable places and a lack of funding, or waiting lists, my answer sadly is usually “no.””

“In an ideal world, rehabs would be available for everyone who needs them. I could pick up a phone and get a counsellor organised in 5 minutes and I could get this man or woman into a halfway house. Unfortunately though, this is not an ideal world - it is a battlefield. Satan is having a field day during his “Little Season”, ensnaring men and women by the thousands, and will continue to do so until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.”

“When faced with desperate situations like those I mentioned then I must confess I often pray, “Lord send this man to prison.” It’s quite radical I know, but it’s the only way in the short term to keep that person alive - and corpses can’t respond to the Gospel! I can’t tell a dead man he must repent! You might think that I’m being a little sensationalist in saying this. You may be thinking that there’s no one out there like that – surely? My answer to you is that in the last 3 and a half years I have seen 64 people die on the streets of our city; it really is that serious.”

If they are “lucky” and end up in Prison, Cossy will receive a call from the chaplaincy after 3 or 4 weeks letting him know that one of his “clients” would like to see him. “It never fails to amaze me” says Cossy, “there is such a change, flesh on bones, usually a calm demeanour, and at last, sensible conversations. Now I can share the Gospel. Now I can tell them Jesus came to set them free – and now through faith in Him they can break Satan’s bonds and no longer be a slave to drugs and alcohol! In Truth, not many do come to faith – but every one of them will hear the Gospel.”

It’s a strange paradox that as the big Prison doors bang behind these men and the outside world is cut off from them, other doors which were previously shut because of drugs and the all consuming need to get them, are now open. “Men will now show an openness to the Good News of Jesus Christ,” says Cossy. “The many conversations and this openness would never have occurred outside. In addition to the one to one visits, I have the immense privilege of leading a Christian group with the chaplaincy team, as well as being part of the prison fellowship group which looks at restorative justice using Jesus and Zacchaeus as the model. So you can see prison often affords more Gospel opportunities to these desperate people than they would ever have “on the outside.””
As if to back all this up, the following is a quote from a letter Cossy received recently. “…I now realize that drugs have stolen most of my life away. I have still got the Bible you gave me, and go to a study each week. Thanks for being there; you’ll never know how many lives you have saved.” When a letter like this arrives, it’s a real encouragement to Cossy. “It’s just like God saying, “carry on, this is my work, not yours. You carry on, I’ll do the rest.””

Please continue to pray for all of those working in prison evangelism, pray that prison would indeed be the path to freedom for many to know our Lord and Saviour. “I was in prison and you came to me.” Matthew 25 v 36 (NKJV)

Royal Liverpool Hospital

HM Prison Walton

Sharing the Bible at the Early Morning Café and Walton Prison
by Steve Cossack (Cossy)

Cossy writes… “After much mess, dust and a Herculaneum feat of cleaning by Stan, Anne and Alan, our city centre café finally re-opened on 2nd March 2010 after being closed since Christmas for structural alterations. The first few days were quite slow, but slowly and surely the word got round that we were open again. We haven’t been quite as busy as we were before, but there is a reason for that”.

Cossy encouragingly goes on to describe the prison work … “Recently, during our regular prison visits, after our class had finished, Marian Hawley, Prison Chaplain, went to escort the lads back to the wing and I heard… Cossy!  Cossy!  Cossy! coming from all directions. It transpired that 18 of the early morning café regulars were in Her Majesty’s Hotel. My colleague Paul Holloway, and I have been encouraged by the prison work. We are far more
structured in our Bible studies now and one of the men seems to be thinking a bit more. We would value your prayers that the group would grow. Due to heightened security concerns in the prison, less prisoners are getting clearance to come to the group”. I was really encouraged by a letter from a prisoner I received recently in which he says “I can’t get the Lord out of my head, and I feel that with God’s help I can get through my addiction” .Also he writes “thank you Cossy  for being there for me and not giving up on me”. It was a very long and deeply honest and moving letter, in which the man is under deep, deep conviction of sin. We really must pray that God will save this man (for obvious reasons no names can be mentioned, but God will know if you say  the prisoner Paul and Cossy know). The words of Psalm 142 v 7 (NIV) come to mind…. Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me”.

Cossy goes on to describe more of the café work… “As for the café, the Lord’s goodness never ceases to amaze me. He provides financially, physically and spiritually. There are times in the work I feel “ah, I’m wasting my time here; I’m banging my head against a brick wall”.

Then the Lord will send something along to encourage me and assure me that this is God’s work, not mine. All I have to do is plod on, trusting in our wonderful Lord and Saviour. Only recently I was feeling this way when out of the blue talking to two men over a cup of tea, they said “what’s the Bible all about? I’d like to know”. So I started to explain and suggested we do a short Bible study on a Tuesday. They said they would like that and they would come and ask some mates along – so please pray for us as we open God’s word. Please pray that they will turn up and  that the Holy Spirit would prepare their hearts, and that this worthless sinner would be enabled to simply explain the simple life transforming power of Jesus as found in his Word and known in our hearts”.

Staff Drug Awareness Training

Three of our staff who work amongst the homeless and addicted have successfully completed the NCFE Level 2 Certificate in Drug Awareness Studies and their Applications. Steve Cossack, Paul Holloway, and Mark Callister undertook this 18 week course (Friday afternoons). They completed five units:-
· Understand Drug Use / Misuse
· Recognise and Respond to Drug Use / Misuse
· Communicate with Young People about Drugs
· Work with Communities
· Show Awareness of Issues Concerning Alcohol and Young People
We at the Liverpool City Mission felt that it was very important for these men to be trained in this area.

Here we see them pictured with their Certificates for their achievement.