About Along Side Ministries
Leaving prison can feel like getting a second chance.
But a second chance doesn't automatically come with a place to live, a job, healthy relationships, a supportive church, or someone you can call when life starts getting difficult again.
That's where Along Side Ministries comes in.
Based in Phoenix, Arizona, Along Side Ministries is a Christian prison and reentry ministry that walks with incarcerated men and women as they prepare to return to their communities. Its mission is to mobilize the Body of Christ to disciple and equip them for victorious Christian living.
And the relationship doesn't begin at the prison gate.
It starts while they're still inside.
Walking Alongside People Before Release
Along Side Ministries believes successful reentry should begin long before someone walks out of prison.
Inside Arizona prisons, the ministry holds weekly discipleship groups centered on applying Christianity to everyday life. Participants are encouraged to think seriously about what life will look like after release and begin preparing for the challenges waiting for them.
Those accepted into the full program are connected with trained Christian mentors.
This relationship is important because the mentor isn't simply there to teach another Bible lesson.
They're there to walk alongside someone.
As release approaches, the mentor and participant can talk honestly about the past while preparing for what's ahead. Together, they begin developing a plan for returning to society with greater stability and a growing relationship with Christ.
The Relationship Continues Outside
Then release day comes.
For many people leaving prison, this is where the hardest part begins.
Along Side Ministries continues the relationship through its residential Discipleship Training Centers for men and women. Participants can spend nine to twelve months transitioning back into society while living in a structured Christian environment.
They continue meeting with mentors and participating in discipleship while learning how to navigate everyday responsibilities again.
The ministry helps them work through the realities that come with rebuilding a life after incarceration. That can mean learning how to manage money again, finding meaningful work, restoring relationships, addressing destructive patterns, or simply adjusting to the routines of ordinary life.
Throughout that process, participants are also encouraged to become connected with a local church.
The Church Becomes Part of the Story
Along Side Ministries doesn't want prison ministry to remain something performed by a small group of specialists.
It wants the local church involved.
Christian volunteers serve as mentors, Bible teachers, prayer partners, worship leaders, and supporters. Churches can build relationships with people affected by incarceration and become part of their transition back into the community.
That creates something a program alone can't provide.
Community.
Someone returning from prison isn't simply handed resources and expected to figure everything out. They're surrounded by Christians who can encourage them when things are going well and stay beside them when old struggles begin resurfacing.
Support Doesn't End at Graduation
Even completing the residential program isn't necessarily the end of the relationship.
Graduates move into an aftercare period where they continue pursuing personal goals while remaining connected with mentors and other graduates.
There's also an Alumni Association designed to create lifelong relationships among people who have completed the program.
Former participants can encourage one another, support those coming behind them, and become examples of what restoration can look like.
The person who once needed someone to walk alongside them can eventually become someone who walks alongside another.
More Than Staying Out of Prison
Along Side Ministries reports that 97% of its program graduates who leave prison remain out.
But its vision reaches beyond reducing recidivism.
The ministry wants to see incarcerated men and women transformed into Christian leaders within their families, churches, and communities.
That means success isn't simply measured by whether someone avoids another prison sentence.
It's also found in a restored relationship. A growing faith. A father reconnecting with his children. Someone finding stability after years of addiction or destructive choices. A former inmate becoming an active part of a church community.
At the heart of Along Side Ministries is exactly what its name suggests: Christians walking alongside men and women through incarceration, release, and the difficult process of rebuilding their lives—helping them discover that freedom can mean far more than simply walking outside the prison walls.
