A dedicated Inside Out Prison Chaplaincy volunteer is continuing a family legacy in chaplaincy.
Jonathan Stubbs, also known as Jona, has been a volunteer prison chaplain for the past six years. He is following the path of his father George Stubbs who was a prison chaplain for 25 years, including 20 years with Inside Out Prison Chaplaincy.
“My father rang me one day to mention he had met a young man in jail whose mother went to our church, so I started visiting him,” Jona says.
“Through this process God showed me the significance and importance of just walking alongside this young man.”
Jona explains he was brought up in a Christian home but was a “very rebellious teenager and young man” who had issues with drugs and alcohol. Now he helps to bring hope to men in prison, as “one of the few allowed to walk among the inmates”.
“Prison chaplains are important because we have privileged access to broken lives that matter. I love talking with inmates and asking God for wisdom to speak and share into their lives and situations,” says Jona, who has also volunteered with prison fellowship in Tasmania.
“I was sharing with a young man how God looks at the inside of a man. The world looks at the outside, but God looks at the inside which reveals the real person – and that is who God wants to know.”
Jona is one of around 30 Inside Out Prison Chaplaincy volunteer prison chaplains offering pastoral care to men and women in correctional centres between Cairns and the Gold Coast.
Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer prison chaplain can visit this webpage or phone 3550 3789.
