By now you may be wondering about Sowing Seeds Ministries, what we do and why we do it. And what about the future?
What we do
This part is simple. Sowing Seeds Ministries exists to bring the message and love of Christ to prisoners and ex-offenders.
To do this we visit prisons and young offender institutions everywhere to deliver our message of hope and faith.
Gram currently sees some 200 people a week. Speaking to individuals and to groups, Gram talks of his belief in hope through faith.
He leads Alpha courses for those from a damaged and troubled past. He tells them his life story, without glamourising his past, encouraging them to choose another life-style away from crime.
Why do we do it?
The simple answer is that Gram has to. But let him explain, in his own words.
“ My heart beats every day for young people inside a cell. Less than a week after leaving hospital, after coming out of the coma, I was looking out of my bedroom window. I saw three young kids running over the bridge from Teesside Retail Park. They’d been shoplifting just like I used to do. I didn’t have Christ yet but I knew it was wrong and that I must do something. I shouted after them but they just thought they were in trouble and ran off. So I got some people to spread the word that I wanted to talk to all the youngsters on the estate and that night more than 30 of them turned up in my street. I told them what they were doing was wrong. I said to them that, with my past, I was in no position to talk, and I couldn’t explain why I was saying it, but what they were doing wasn’t the right way to live and they must stop – and I was going to help them. From that day to this, that has been my mission.”
Sowing Seeds Ministries has three main aims;
- To bring hope to young people in trouble with the law and help them find faith.
- By helping them, reduce crime.
- Provide help and support for the families of young people in prison because they also suffer.
Be in no doubt about the scale of the problem - England and Wales have the highest rate of imprisonment in Western Europe.
At just one prison in the Tees Valley area alone (where Sowing Seeds Ministries is based) it’s estimated that some 80% of the inmates have problems with alcohol, drug or violence related issues.
Many of these are people about to be released back into society and they need help.
They desperately need Sowing Seeds Ministries to be successful. We all do!