Peter Clarke has joined the Inside Out Prison Chaplaincy team as our new coordinator.
Carinity’s Director of Missional Culture and Leadership, Dan Lyons, says Peter brings over 20 years of pastoral and mission experience to his new role.
“Peter is deeply committed to walking alongside people in complex and challenging life circumstances, offering hope, dignity, and purpose grounded in Christ,” Dan said.
Peter’s passion for prison ministry began over 11 years ago during a short-term mission trip abroad, where he first visited a prison.
“While a youth pastor I took a team of teens to Fiji on a mission trip which included visits to the prisons. I was amazed how God was at work in those prisons,” Peter said.
During that experience, God planted a seed that would continue to grow and shape Peter’s calling.
That calling was further affirmed when Peter was invited to serve as a chaplain for a Kairos Prison Ministry course at Parklea Correctional Centre in New South Wales.
“During the Kairos course one of the inmates said, ‘You guys are the only ones that have visited me.’ This really spoke to me. Again, I was amazed at work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the inmates,” Peter said.
Deeply impacted by the experience, Peter made himself available to continue serving as a chaplain in the years that followed.
Peter wishes to see Inside Out Prison Chaplaincy chaplains “be people that are God dependent, people of integrity, vessels of God’s grace and love overflowing into the inmates’ lives”.
“I also want to connect to our churches to see more people become prison chaplains.
“My vision is that through our support and encouragement, we would foster hope and spiritual freedom through sharing the love of Jesus Christ.”