Brandy never expected that accepting one invitation could change everything for her family.
Her children’s father is incarcerated.
A single mom of seven in California, Brandy has 9-year-old twins, 10-year-old triplets, a 16-year-old niece, and an 18-year-old. She works hard and tries to ignore comments on how many kids she has without a father in the home. Her children’s father is incarcerated.
But for six years, each of her children has received Christmas gifts from their dad, because Prison Fellowship Angel Tree in the USA and elsewhere partners with local churches to make this possible. They also each received Bibles.
Her kids hounded her, asking to attend church.
A few years ago, Brandy’s children started coming home from school and daycare saying their friends had invited them to church. She says her kids hounded her, asking to attend church until finally she gave in. Brandy thought this was just an excuse to play with friends.
She reluctantly agreed to go once to a Wednesday night service. This decision became the catalyst for a brand-new life: a life lived in a community that loved Brandy and her children.
Soon, the family was going to church every Wednesday and Sunday. Each time, they were reminded of the gospel, and that message of hope was reinforced by Christ-centered community.
Those Bibles, and that loving community, made all the difference.
The Bibles and the many thoughtful gifts Brandy’s children received helped to affirm their father’s love. Above all, they received the care and community of God’s family. Those Bibles, and that loving community, made all the difference.
Brandy and her children now attend church regularly. Brandy volunteers in the church nursery.
“Those Bibles… planted a seed for my kids. When their classmates started inviting them to church, they wanted to go,” she says.
We read in Psalm 68:6 that “God sets the lonely in families.” And often, He uses his Church to set lonely families into the communities they need to live, thrive, and find Him.
They discovered true belonging with God’s people.
Families with loved ones behind bars long to be seen and supported. Brandy and her children found more than a Sunday service; they discovered true belonging with God’s people. And it all began with a few Christmas gifts.
Regular church attendance is strongly correlated with improved well-being. A close church network often means deeper relationships, a clearer sense of purpose, greater satisfaction, and even higher levels of financial stability.
God asks us to reach out to the lonely and the outcast.
Brandy’s family is a powerful demonstration of just how much impact the Body of Christ can have. We aren’t only called to open ourselves up to living in community; we’re also called to extend that welcome to others. God asks us to reach out to the lonely and the outcast, to reflect Jesus’ light in a dark world.
When the Church is a place of welcome, it reflects the very heart of God.
What better time to extend the offer of community than at Christmas? Prison Fellowship Angel Tree partners with churches across the country to provide Christmas gifts to children on behalf of their incarcerated parents. Those gifts represent an open door to relationship—first and foremost with the absent parent, but secondly, with the local church that serves them, and in turn, the God who loves them.
At Christmas more than any other time, people are looking for connection.
At Christmas more than any other time, people are looking for connection. It doesn’t cost much to give a gift, extend an invitation to church, or offer friendship, but to those on the receiving end, these things can be a lifeline—and, for some like Brandy, a pathway to a new life.
Betsy Wright is the senior director of Angel Tree at Prison Fellowship and a Trust-Based Relational Intervention practitioner. Prison Fellowship is the nation’s largest Christian nonprofit equipping the Church to serve currently and formerly incarcerated people and their families, and a leading advocate for justice and human dignity inside and outside prison.
