Nineteen women completed another semester of the North Carolina Field Minister Program at North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women this May. Judson College launched the program in 2024 to equip and deploy incarcerated women for gospel ministry throughout the North Carolina prison system.
North Carolina Baptists financially support the program, which is primarily funded by Game Plan for Life and other donors and partners. N.C. Baptists committed $80,000 to the women’s program for three years. A program for men launched in 2016, which N.C. Baptists also supported financially.
Ashley Reffit, women’s leadership and discipleship consultant for N.C. Baptists, oversees a volunteer system that trains volunteers to tutor and disciple the women.
For Reffit, the program is “the most beautiful display of the gospel” she’s ever seen.
“Serving these women is a joy I look forward to every week. Their dedication and determination are inspiring. Hearing their struggles and then seeing their own paths to redemption and the transformation within them — it’s the most tangible display of the gospel I’ve witnessed in ministry.”
The eight-year program trains and deploys incarcerated women for ministry throughout the North Carolina prison system. Students take courses during the first four years to earn a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies, with concentrations in ministry to women, justice and social ethics, and psychology. After graduating, they will serve in facilities for four years, in faith-based ministries, peer counseling, crisis ministries and educational ministries.
Several women from N.C. Baptist churches volunteer to tutor, mentor or lead discipleship groups. Each student is in a discipleship group, which follows a curriculum provided by Judson College. Volunteers have been individually identified based on students’ needs and their availability, as extensive training and security clearance are required to volunteer in the facility.
Sandra Manos began leading a discipleship group last year and meets with five women once a week during the semester. This past spring, she taught through 2 Timothy, with a goal not only to mentor the women as disciples, but “to teach them how to teach others.”
Manos, who had a 30-year career as a public school counselor and then served in women’s ministry in her local church, called this opportunity the “high point” of her life in this season.
The women often face additional challenges concerning their children or elderly parents at home — “stuff goes on on the outside that they can do absolutely nothing about.”
“I’ve seen levels of faith that sometimes I don’t see within the church. They don’t have anything except God to lean on,” Manos said.
“I see the power of Satan try to defeat God there in such a palpable way,” she said. “I see the forgiveness and grace of God working so powerfully.”
Harriet Page is a retired high school math teacher who now volunteers once a week to tutor students in algebra. She started helping students with prealgebra more than a year ago. After the students’ math class on Wednesdays, she comes on Thursdays to assist them with assignments.
Page, who also serves as the prayer coordinator for the N.C. Baptist Women’s Evangelism and Discipleship Conference, also prays with the students when they share prayer requests.
Like Manos and Reffit, Page has seen a unique hunger for Scripture among the women.
“To hear the gospel coming out of their mouths and how they encourage one another has really been beautiful to see,” Page said. “I see growth in them faster than I do sometimes in some of the Bible studies or discipleship groups I have at church.
“From what I’ve seen over the past year, they are more at ease with their walk with Christ,” she said. Page has heard them increasingly express their trust in God.
Page said she has witnessed an “encouraging sisterhood” among the students.
The experience also opened her eyes to the various ways God can continue to use people and their skills in different settings.
“Retired people sometimes wonder what they can do,” she said. “What does a math teacher do? You see God setting that pathway all the way to putting me into this situation, where I can use the talent He gave me to give a drink of water to some people that He loves.”
“Everybody can be involved in prison ministry, if you never step a foot inside the prison, but you pray for the women that are there,” Manos added.
Volunteer opportunities are limited by invitation because of the facility’s requirements, but N.C. Baptists can pray for the Spirit to work in the hearts of women who don’t know Christ and to help incarcerated believers to remain steadfast in a setting that demands countercultural faithfulness.
