The purpose of Kairos is to foster a strong Kairos community and aid in developing a strong Christian community within the Units we are serving in.

The Kairos Reunion is an essential and integral part of the Kairos ministry of continuing presence. It is a Reunion of all of the Share and Prayer Groups in the Institution.

These groups should provide "safe houses" for individual Christians in the alien and antagonistic environment of the correctional institution. The monthly Kairos Reunion should provide a "safe community" in which the individual groups can receive wider support and encouragement.

Christ uses the Reunion to increase the awareness of their being his body in the grouping members. The sheer size of the gathered co at a Kairos Reunion becomes a very Important dynamic In residents to overcome their hesitance, if not fear, of proclaim commitment to Christ by word or act in an environment in which can only expect condemnation for their stand. It is the strength in the Reunion that encourages members of the Share and Prayer Groups to go forth in apostolic action into the environments of the Institution.

The Reunion becomes a part of a strong Christian community only to the extent that the members of the individual Share and Prayer Groups are able to become vulnerable to one another. Then they will be able to love not only each other but also everyone else in the environment of the Institution.

This kind of love guarantees the constant refreshment of the Kairos Reunion. It gives it life. It is that most effective of all m evangelization…. the kind that results in other individual environment coming up to an apostle and saying, "Friend, I don’t what it is that you’ve got, but I want it." Thus, "holy envy" represents that sought-after condition which requires the presence of visible disciples within the prison.

The Christian in most prisons lives in the midst of a totally alien and frequently threatening environment. The Christian community is oftentimes a fragmented community, sometimes so fragmented barely perceptible. Many, If not most, of its members are "closet Christians."

Violence to one’s person is a constant threat. The trust level among residents in correctional institutions is virtually non-existent, even among those who would label themselves as Christians. Fear is the overriding passion among the residents.

In most institutions, people are being added to and withdrawn from the population almost daily. These changes seem to be even more frequent among those persons involved In the Kairos ministry. As a result of their changed attitudes, they tend to have their security classifications reduced more rapidly than the general population. This often results in their transfer to less secure institutions and contributes to the depletion of Prayer and Share Groups.

Kairos traditionally holds (2) two 3-Day Kairos weekends each year in order to provide more men/women for group reunions. This usually results in introducing 42 "new" or renewed Christians into the environment twice a year.

Most of these will have had the major conversion experience of their lives during those three days. It may not be the first conversion experience they have had and we all pray that it won’t be the last, for conversion is a continuing experience.

As these Christians act to form new Share and Prayer Groups, the Impact of Christ’s love shown through the members of the already established groups to them should be so strong that the Reunion becomes a living witness to Christ’s presence in the institution.

Kairos is very much a ministry of affirmation. As with all healing ministry, it is also very much a ministry of reconciliation.

The very presence of the team, offering the love of Christ In the institution, becomes an integral part of this process of reconciliation on both a symbolic level and a very practical, experiential level.

The symbolic aspect of this which carries great impact for the resident arises from the fact that team members come into the Institution as representatives of the society which has always been seen by the residents as the enemy, that great undefined entity which has locked them up and thrown away the key, which has rejected them as unworthy, which has branded them as criminal.

Now they are confronted by these members of society who come offering the love of Christ, not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of a host of others from that society who are praying and cooking and writing letters for them. Now the old stereotypes are no longer functional. The structure, which had supported the fortress of hostility, begins to crumble, freeing the inmate for hospitality and reconciliation.

On a more practical and immediate level, the one-on-one love and affirmation, which come from being heard and being offered attention, bring the process of reconciliation alive on a very personal level.

Here the resident experiences the explosion of joy and the wonder of love when the energies previously tied up In anger are freed for caring and for accepting care from another person. Here reconciliation becomes a vital and dynamic personal experience.

But the forgiving of society abstractly, and the individual members of it personally, only begin the process. It does not yet occur to the resident that reconciliation with the society in which he or she must live is also possible or even desirable. But slowly, this too begins to be seen as a rewarding option.

On Saturday night of the short course, the resident is invited to release resentment and unforgiveness for his/her enemies. If able to do this, the resident finds himself/herself inundated with new feelings of freedom, freedom from a bondage that had not been previously realized.

Then, when this "new" or "renewed" Christian begins to participate in the Share and Prayer Groups and Kairos Reunions after the 3-Day experience, an interesting thing happens. Attitude toward "strangers," toward the rest of the population of the institution and the world, begins to change. Trust becomes possible, vulnerability becomes possible, and love becomes possible.

Those inside the fence are still "us" and all others are still "they," but the line between the two is much thinner. They are able to love others in the institution beyond the "us" of the incarcerated, including some members of the staff and correctional officers. To do this, however, three things must be provided for the resident. They are, through Christ, the components of faith, hope and love

To help the resident attain the first of these, we Christians from the outside world must break into his/her life in this closed environment. We must do it regularly and with both a plan and a purpose. The Kairos Reunion provides this opportunity.

To attain the second factor, the resident must be firmly established in a small Share and Prayer Group in which to practice vulnerability at least once a week.

To attain the third, the resident also needs the monthly Kairos Reunion. This will allow the resident to achieve Identity with scores of Christians throughout the compound so that at no time does he/she see become an isolated, and thus a paralyzed, Christian.

Then, when support is needed for the resident’s witness as well as for times of failure, the support community is not only visibly presents, but more importantly, is Immediately available.

For these reasons, among many others, it is important that Kairos volunteers do nothing to encourage residents to build community with members of the team in preference to their fellow residents. Any act we commit which makes them more dependent upon us than upon each other is a disservice. It is counter-productive to the purpose of Kairos.

The temptation for them to try to build it with us is almost irresistible. It is infinitely less threatening. It does not carry with It the burden of honesty and of reality as does building community with a group to whose observation you are open 24 hours a day.

For these reasons, the Share and Prayer Groups formed at the Reunions should always have at least one Kairos volunteer (or more than two in larger groups, and if we have one in all the other groups already) and we should have at least two residents in a group and no more than six.

If there are too many Kairos volunteers at a Reunion to allow for this and still keep the groups at four members each, then some groups of just Kairos volunteers should be formed.

Kairos volunteers should remember that most institutions regulations and Kairos policy forbid any Kairos volunteer from being on the visiting list of any resident involved In the Kairos ministry.

It is best if one avoids continuing to group with the same person or persons at Reunion after Reunion. This does not enlarge the scope of the residents’ exposure to new relationships, especially am brothers in the compound. By the same token, the inclusion of Kairos volunteers in resident Share and Prayer Groups should not occur frequently.

One should not approach the Reunion with plans to seek most exciting and stimulating residents available with whom to group. This discourages the not so attractive from attending the Reunion and also contributes to jealousy, which is destructive in a Christian community.

It is essential that, where members of the opposite sex are to attend Kairos Reunions, those persons rigorously avoid any favoritism. This will not be permitted in the TDCJ Units we will be working with.

Kairos volunteers attending Reunions should also be thoroughly familiar with the grouping process. They should be prepared to, and capable of, serving not only as a participant in the group, but a leader when it is needed. This assumes a comprehensive understanding of the content and dynamics of each step in the grouping process.

It is the responsibility of the Advisory Council to assure continued understanding. One of the ways in which this is through the way we pick the person picked to do the Resident Rector (leading opportunity offered to the Resident) by the board each month in the schedule for the Reunion.

It is of paramount importance that the person to who is chosen to be a Resident Rector should be chosen because of a particular ability to lead residents in such a way that they better understand how to walk with Christ in greater s love and obedience.

One of the saddest things that ever happen in Kairos is appointment of a person or a team member to a task, for which God has not equipped him/her, because he/she "deserves it." The obligation of the Kairos leadership is always to the spiritual welfare of the resident, not to the emotional fulfillment of members of the team.

The Advisory Council needs to have one member whose primary assignment is to have a carefully selected Kairos volunteer (and a backup) ready to speak in the time slot provided for the district leadership each month at the Reunion. It need not always be a district committee member. It will never be a resident. This person should be named and announced to the resident Rector before Reunion begins.