Payback for Paraguayan Mennonites

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The verbal snapshots of Paraguay in the March 17 issue are delightful. Unfortunately, since Edgar Stoesz' article is an adaptation from his book Like a Mustard Seed: Mennonites in Paraguay, the article misses a most significant payback in which the Mennonites in Paraguay have been investing intensely: the prison ministry.

For the past nine years, the Protestant chaplaincy of the Tacumbu National Penitentiary, a ministry of the Concordia Mennonite Brethren Church, has offered an alternative to the men incarcerated there. In March 2000, the first ward allowing for holistic rehabilitation of inmates was opened. Currently about 500 men are living in the Christian Rehabilitation Wards.

That is more than 15 percent of the total prison population, and the results are stunning: The reentry rate is about 10 percent of the national level. Thousands and thousands of dollars have been invested to convert a human warehouse into a place of safety—initially for those who live there and later for the general population as they are released. As one of the founders of those wards, I bow my head in gratitude to God and to the Mennonites of Paraguay for that significant payback.

Associated Issue: Mennonites in Paraguay - March 17, 2009

Associated Article: Jesus, go before us

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