3.0 KAIROS CONCEPTS AND MISCONCPETIONS

 3.0 KAIROS CONCEPTS AND MISCONCEPTIONS

2.1           Kairos is:

a.       About opening that hole in the wall so that God can pour His love in. The first and essential message of Kairos is, “God loves you”. This love is shown through the team members.

b.       The goal is to extend/form a Christian community in the institution. It is not easy to be a Christian and lead a Christian life in an institution and, to be a part of a group may provide the support that is needed in order to achieve this.

c.       Interdenominational and Ecumenical; each team is made up of members of different denominations and this is one of its strengths. It demonstrates unity in Christ. We want the residents to see Christians of different traditions and beliefs being able to work together as the body of Christ. This is a powerful testimony to the power of the Holy Spirit, and begins to suggest that, in spite of much evidence to the contrary, Christianity can actually work. Romans 14:13 “So then, let us stop judging one another”. Ecumenical means that we bring the essential elements of our faith to the level ground on which we meet the residents. Primary amongst these is our relationship with God and our continuing ‘apprenticeship’ to His Son, Jesus Christ.

 

2.2           Kairos is not:

a.       A bible study. Whilst we refer to, quote, read the Bible and encourage Kairos participants to study the Bible, neither the Kairos Short Course or Continuing Ministry is a bible study.

b.       For saving souls. We do not have an altar call; do not ask people to give their lives to Christ or to make any kind of public commitment. A Chaplain once said that “your job is not to save souls but to be instruments of the Holy Spirit so that he can open a small hole in the wall of each resident, so that God can begin to pour His love in. The soul saving is up to God and His Holy Spirit”. If a resident accepts Christ during ‘Kairos Time’ we will all be joyful and any team member will be happy to explain how to do this but this is not the direct job of Kairos.

c.       About recruiting residents into any particular church. We hope that residents will attend any of the Christian activities within the institution and will attend a church on their release which is suitable for them. Kairos never promotes one church denomination over another.

 Kairos volunteers bring a unique approach to prisons and to prisoners. In the Kairos program, “Acceptance” of the individual is not conditional upon behavioural change, but the foundation for it. Many people who have experienced trauma, abuse, neglect and attachment loss, or who have simply grown up in an antisocial culture, need more than behavioural programs if they are to have any chance of successful long-term rehabilitation. They must experience a secure relationship of trust in which they know they are accepted and significant in the eyes of a respected adult if they are to have any chance of re-integration into families and society. Kairos Team members share their own experience and struggles, and life-skills that have worked for them. Kairos focuses on the persons, not the prisoners, and addresses the underlying cause of behaviour that comes from the internal toxic environment. Inmates who have experienced the Kairos transformation have recounted stories of regained hope, a new future and a sense of belonging to a community.

 Kairos teams are made up of members from most of the major Christian denominations. We each have different beliefs and traditions and could probably get into great discussions over these differences, but we avoid them in order to present a united community to the residents of the institution. We come to accept that our differences and our quirks are mostly created by people rather than God, and accept that we all believe that:

God is.

God loves each and every one of us. Jesus is the Son of God.

Because of Jesus’ death, our sins are forgiven, if we accept that gift.

The natural response to accepting God’s gift, is to learn from Jesus how to live our lives as if He were living them for us, so that abundant life in His Kingdom grows as our everyday experience.

 Everything else is extra and not part of Kairos, we keep our own personal beliefs out of Kairos. Kairos is not about changing people’s beliefs but to listen and love, not to preach and change minds. The motto of Kairos is “Listen, Listen, Love, Love”, just that simple. Romans 14:1 says “Accept among you the man who is weak in his faith, but do not argue with him about his personal opinions”.