The “Effective Reentry Ministry for Ordinary Congregations” workshop scheduled for January 17, 2026, at Grace Lutheran Church in Phoenix has been canceled.
Organizer Fred Nelson of the Inside Out Network is exploring the possibility of offering this training in an online webinar or alternate format in the future. Updates will be shared as plans develop.
Read MoreThe Fall 2025 ION Newsletter explores how moments of waiting can lead to unexpected growth. From a new reentry video podcast to a faith-driven smartphone donation project, ION continues to connect returning citizens with hope and community. Read stories of transformation, fresh data insights, and updates from Arizona and Oregon in this inspiring edition. Read the full newsletter online or in this PDF.
Read MoreION’s Summer 2025 newsletter is out now! Highlights include a new vodcast partnership with Arizona prisons, expansion to Oregon prison tablets, and growing momentum in Arizona and Montana. Meet new board member Sarah Estes, celebrate Maddi Briguglio’s ASU award, and check out ION’s new book on reentry ministry for congregations. Read the full ION Summer Newsletter.
Read MoreThe Winter 2025 Inside Out Network Newsletter is here, packed with inspiring stories of transformation, reentry partnerships, and ways congregations can support returning citizens. Highlights include the Men in Orange program, the Color Me Yellow fundraising campaign, and exciting reentry ministry models for churches. Read more and explore how you can be part of this work: Read the full newsletter or download the PDF.
Read MoreInside Out Network’s Fall 2024 newsletter highlights significant developments, including expanded access to ION’s platform in Arizona prison libraries and a new fundraising goal to support reentry resources. Discover updates on ION’s outreach in Mississippi and Oregon, impactful community events, and inspiring success stories that showcase ION’s ongoing mission to support returning citizens. View the ION Fall 2024 newsletter online or view/download this PDF.
Read MoreExplore the transformative stories and impactful work featured in the Inside Out Network’s Summer 2024 Newsletter. Discover how faith-based initiatives are making a difference in the lives of incarcerated individuals and learn how you can support this vital mission. Read the full newsletter online or in this PDF.
Read MoreThe Spring 2024 ION Newsletter highlights key initiatives, including the impactful work of ION interns, the Reentry Congregation Initiative, and the progress of deploying the ION platform on inmate tablets. Learn about Fred Nelson’s six guiding words and the success of our “Color Me Yellow” campaign. Read more about our efforts to support returning citizens and foster community connections. Read the full newsletter as PDF here or online here.
Read MoreThe Inside Out Network’s Fall-Winter 2023 newsletter is available, with great news; “After several years of on-again, off-again discussions and negotiations with Securus Technologies, we finally have a path forward to integrate our online ION website with the 600,000 tablet computers they supply to inmates across the country. This is the breakthrough moment we’ve been working and praying for and that inmates, corrections staff, and reentry service providers have been waiting for.
Read MoreThe ELCA mission support memo for July, 2023 is available as a PDF, as a Word doc, or in this blog post. Join ELCA Mission Support in reflecting on the 2023 Rostered Ministers Gathering in Phoenix. A melting pot of leadership, faith, and inspiration, this gathering fostered connections and reinforced the importance of Mission Support. Learn about the enlightening messages, workshops, and the ongoing mission work that is made possible through the generosity of ELCA members.
Read MoreWe share the latest newsletter from the Inside Out Network (ION), our synod’s prison and reentry ministry. Read or download the summer 2023 ION newsletter here as a PDF, featuring: “That’s my Mama,” staff spotlight, grant support in 2023, state updates, thanks to supporters, book blurbs, board spotlight, and flipping books.
Read MoreThe ELCA mission support memo for May, 2023 is available as PDF, as a Word doc, or in this blog post. This month’s memo features our very own Inside Own Network (ION), the “eHarmony of Prison Reentry.
Read MoreThanks to support from the Grand Canyon Synod and many others, the Inside Out Network (ION) continues to provide our one-of-a-kind online platform that connects people leaving incarceration with the service providers and ministries ready to provide the help and support they need.
If you haven’t heard about us before: ION is like eHarmony for reentry. Returning citizens and service providers can find each other and message back and forth, even prior to the inmate’s release.
Read MoreWe share the latest newsletter from the Inside Out Network (ION), our synod’s prison and reentry ministry. Read the winter 2023 ION newsletter online or view/download as PDF, featuring: Desistance, leaving the minefield; looking ahead; reentry congregations survey work continues, returning citizen spotlight; state updates; spiritual survival guide, and how you can help.
Read MoreWe share the latest newsletter from the Inside Out Network (ION), our synod’s prison and reentry ministry. Read the fall 2022 ION newsletter as PDF, featuring an expansion into Oregon, board member Justin Benjamin, returning citizen spotlight, and Arizona updates. As of late September, there are 2695 returning citizens enrolled in Arizona and 163 providers across the state.
Read MoreWe share the latest newsletter from the Inside Out Network (ION), our synod’s prison and reentry ministry. Read the full newsletter as PDF, featuring what’s next for the Inside Out Network, a service provider spotlight, Arizona and Illinois updates, and an ION intern spotlight.
Read MoreThe Inside Out Network (ION), a ministry birthed in an ELCA congregation and identified as a strategic ministry by the Grand Canyon Synod, is seeking input from congregations that intentionally minister with and to people leaving incarceration. Click here to take the Reentry Congregations Initiative Survey, which takes no more than 10 minutes to complete.
Read MoreInside Out Network, new to our synod, shares their 2022 assembly report with two stories—one long and winding, and one short and sweet—both in the same Spirit.
Read MoreInside Out Network, with Rev. Fred Nelson (New Spirit, Tucson) as Executive Director, is a new strategic ministry of the Grand Canyon Synod, helping reshape reentry for people leaving incarceration with their ground-breaking, invisibility-busting ION online platform that allows returning citizens and service providers to communicate directly with each other. Think of ION as "eHarmony for reentry."
Learn how you can help and more about this ministry in this post, this front-page AZ Daily Star article, and the ION website.
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