About Us

Our mission is to engage, educate, and equip the Church for the discipleship, mentoring, and reintegration of prisoners.

The name “Metanoia” comes from a Greek noun meaning “a change of mind: as it appears in one who repents of a purpose he has formed or of something he has done, especially the change of mind of those who have begun to abhor their errors and misdeeds, and have determined to enter upon a better course of life, so that it embraces both a recognition of sin and sorrow for it and hearty amendment, the tokens and effects of which are good deeds. “ (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon)

Metanoia Prison Ministries as it is today began in 2006.

In 2006, Mark Casson, an ex-prisoner himself, was asked to serve on the board of Metanoia Prison Ministries, a young organization started by Casson’s friend Dion Marshall (also an ex-prisoner) and Marshall’s wife, Shelly. Three years later, Casson arrived at the PCA’s 39th General Assembly in Orlando, FL, as a representative for Metanoia. At the time, the denomination had no official affiliations with prison outreach. Not long afterward, Metanoia was invited to join Mission to North America as the PCA’s prison-ministry arm.

In November 2009, Casson accepted the position of director of prison ministry with MNA and began as the Executive Director of Metanoia full time. At this point, Metanoia’s primary operation involved enrolling prisoners in Metanoia’s discipleship through correspondence curriculum and matching said prisoners with a volunteer from a Reformed church who would grade the prisoner’s lessons and write encouraging letters to him or her.

Then, in the summer of 2012, Metanoia expanded its in-person ministry when Walker State Prison, located in Rock Spring, GA, approached the ministry with a request for 200 men to mentor prisoners. Casson recruited 50 men from First Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga as well as several other PCA and Reformed churches in Chattanooga and northwest Georgia. Every other week, the mentors travel up to an hour to meet with their mentees; they spend two hours each visit praying with and for them, encouraging them, and helping them prepare for release by talking through topics such as biblical parenting and budgeting.

At present, Metanoia partners in ministry with over 130 churches nationwide. The discipleship through correspondence ministry has grown to touch more than 1,300 prisoners each year and involves over 500 unique volunteers from reformed churches. The mentoring ministry has also expanded into a total of four facilities across the southeast and plans to expand into several more in the coming years. Since 2012, over 300 volunteer mentors have been trained, and over 500 prisoners have been individually mentored.

—Sections of this history were taken from an interview conducted by ByFaith Magazine in 2014, with Zoe S. Erler. The article can be accessed here.

Read testimonies from those who have participated in Metanoia’s programs.

**“My life was headed for destruction, but God had another plan…”**

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**“He was then transferred to Walker State Prison where he receive a mentor from Metanoia Prison Ministries. Since then, his mentor has proved to be one of the best friends he’s ever had…”**

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**“I knew [my mentor] loved me, I never doubted if she would be there…”**

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We accomplish our mission by engaging, educating, and equipping the Church.

Some churches may not believe they have the resources to launch a prison ministry plan, may tend to prioritize more culturally acceptable forms of mercy ministry, or may have been burned by a bad experience in the past. Metanoia Ministries is committed to forming partnerships with the local church so that the church does all the ministering and Metanoia does all the facilitating!

Furthermore, prison ministry may seem daunting at first given that it takes place in a culture and environment entirely foreign to civilian life. Metanoia Ministries serves to educate the Church on issues like:

What is it like to be a Christian in prison today?
How can the local church really make a difference?
How can I get involved in prison ministry?

Finally, the Christian journey was never meant to take place alone. That is true for our inmates, for our volunteers, and for our church partners as a whole. Metanoia Ministries also equips with the church with three types of prison ministry training:

Training corresponding disciplers to be matched with a Christian prisoner involved in our correspondence courses.
Training life-on-life mentors to come alongside a Christian prisoner in order to encourage, disciple, and prepare them for release.
Training the church to think through the challenges of reintegration.

Click on one of the links below to view Metanoia Prison Ministries’ Annual Ministry Reports: