Church opens micro-sites in jail, recovery centers

The work of a Johnson County congregation is extending far beyond fellow parishioners who come to services each week.

Thousands of people stream into Emmanuel Church’s Franklin, Greenwood and Banta Road campuses weekly to worship and have fellowship with other Christians. Others who cannot make it to a campus stream the services online.

But church members wanted to do more to offer services to people who they believe needed to hear God’s messages the most. As a congregation, they decided to concentrate on bringing Christ’s messages to people incarcerated or struggling with addiction and recovery.

Emmanuel Church has launched a micro-site campus at the Theodora House, an addiction recovery center for women located near downtown Indianapolis as a concentrated effort to bring Christ’s message to people by meeting them where they are. 

[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery

"Emmanuel exists to see people come to Christ and grow with Christ," said Rachel Long, executive pastor of multi-sites and families.

The new site is similar to sites the church already runs at the Johnson County jail and Johnson County Community Corrections. The church is also in talks to open other micro sites in possibly the Marion County Jail and at a prison.

Church volunteers go into the the sites on Sundays or Wednesdays and live stream the services that are happening at the church. Volunteers also offer time for inmates to break into small groups for Bible study and to discuss the message.

The idea is that the inmates would get the exact same service as if they were attending the church in one of their buildings and volunteers also bring coffee and breakfast to the inmates to make sure that their experience matches what they would get at the physical building, church volunteer Rhonda Upchurch said.

“People are going through as if they are walking through the doors at Emmanuel," Upchurch said. "That is one of the things that we wanted, that they would have the Emmanuel service."

Members of the church decided last winter that they wanted to concentrate church efforts on reaching people in the areas of recovery, incarceration and rehabilitation. A year-end fundraising drive brought in $28,000 that church members wanted committed to helping people incarcerated, Long said.

The Bible calls Christians to minister to people and bringing the message out beyond the walls of a church is what churches should be doing, Upchurch said.

"This is what the church is actually called to do," she said.

Church volunteers have had background checks and training before bringing the services to the micro-sites. The church buys and installs the equipment needed to live stream each service and volunteers can enroll to help, Long said.

Officials at Theodora House had heard about the micro-sites and asked the church to look into coming into their center to reach the women housed there. That is when the Emmanuel decided to launch a micro site at Theodora House, Long said.

At least three women at Theodora House have decided that they wanted to commit their lives to Christ and have expressed an interest in the church.

Those examples are why church members have made reaching people who are incarcerated or in recovery a priority, Long said.

One of the main goals in launching the micro-sites is to let people know that the church will be there for them once they have finished their sentences, Long said.

Church volunteers are trained to connect with the inmates and those struggling with addiction and to reach out to them. Then, once they are released and looking for a church home, they have contact with people who can get them plugged into Emmanuel, she said.

"They are wanting to connect to the church once they leave," Long said.