What Church Can Learn from Prison
It's not too late to join the 'Unstuck Church' workshop!
The mainline church is struggling to move into the 21st century.
It's not what we do: sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. The hunger for spiritual connection is rising around us.
It's how we do it: steeped in the organizational, institutional systems of the mid-20th century.
It's hard to see 'systems', especially when we're so entrenched in them. It's much easier to see the kind of collapse we're facing if we use one that's much more dramatic.
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Unstuck church:
How Systematic Change Is Pushing Us into the Future
Tomorrow - August 12th, 5-7:30 pm Eastern (yes there will be a recording).
Why is it so hard to find our way in an age of collapsing institutions?
It’s all about adaptation. The solutions are not up to us.
Sign up:
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What we learn when the system finally breaks
In the 1980s and 90s, the U.S. criminal justice system doubled down on a philosophy of control: mandatory minimums, "three strikes" laws, and a surge in mass incarceration. The goal was crime control through retribution.
The result? A broken system.
Incarceration exploded—by 500% in just 40 years
Black and Latino communities were disproportionately affected
The system consumed enormous financial and human resources
And it didn't work—crime rates didn't drop in proportion
And yet, from this collapse emerged innovation.
Restorative justice and community-based diversion are now growing models that prioritize healing, rehabilitation, and equity.
What happened?
The criminal justice system didn't collapse completely. But it got bad enough that major stakeholders had to admit the system itself was broken.
And even then, it's not like they just closed all the prisons and let everyone out. And it's not like the whole system was transformed—or probably ever will be.
But admitting the brokenness of the whole thing gave some the permission and the courage to create newer, smaller, more agile systems, within and alongside the one that is dysfunctional.
And gave those in leadership permission to let them try.
I recently saw a documentary on Netflix about prisoners who make quilts for kids in the foster system. It was pretty incredible how this transformed them emotionally, helped them form community, and gave them skills to transition back into life outside prison more easily.
The church can do something similar.
It starts with admitting the 20th century institutional system is broken.
It's not primarily doing what we do (share the Good News of Jesus Christ)
It’s how we do it: organization, administration, communication
But we might be able to build newer, smaller systems, within and around the one that is dying
So innovative ways of being church can be born