About CMO

Christian Ministries to Offenders (CMO) is a 501(c)3 non-profit ministry devoted to evangelizing and discipling the inmates of the Sedgwick County Detention Facility (SCDF).  CMO operates under the authority of the Sedgwick County, KS sheriff’s office and is the approved ministry for all religious and spiritual programming.

CMO, with its three paid staff members and many volunteers, has been serving inmates in the SCDF since 1981.

CMO’s vision includes sharing the gospel and love of God with the incarcerated men and women at the SCDF; getting church involvement to mentor present inmates and continue doing so through their post-release; and creating life-skills classes to help ex-offenders make choices that will help keep them out of jail.

Daily activities include answering Inmate Request Forms for Bibles, Bible studies, chapel services and ministerial visits.  Other activities include such things as scheduling volunteers to lead chapel services and group Bible studies; maintain an inmate library with Christian literature; pray with and counsel inmates individually at their request; perform death notifications; and meet with inmates to approve/disapprove religious diet requests.

Due to the efforts of CMO’s staff and volunteers,  two to three inmates on average come to know Christ each day. Additionally, many other inmates choose to return to the relationship they once had with Christ by rededicating their lives to Him.

CMO’s staff offers grateful thanks to those faithful servants and volunteers who make the work of CMO possible and who are the true “laborers in the harvest.”

May God richly and mightily bless each one of you! Certainly, you are laying up treasure in heaven.

Chapel Front View

 

Mission

CMO exists to share the gospel with those in the Sedgwick County Detention Facilities. The ministry’s goal is to make disciples of men and women in the SCDF, thereby creating a safer and more stable environment within the facilities and, ultimately, the community.

 

Beliefs

The Bible is the inerrant word of God, infallible and authoritative.

God is one God who exists as three separate persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, who died once for all people, for all sin, for all time.

Jesus, the Christ (Messiah), is the Son of the living God.  He walked this earth as the sinless Son of God.  He died for you and me because of our sin, and the sin of the entire world, so that we may have eternal life with him.  He was three days in the grave, He rose again, and He is now seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven making intercession for us.

To have eternal life with Christ you must be born again by the Holy Spirit as recorded in John 3:3. The born-again experience occurs when you repent of your sin and ask the Lord Jesus Christ to come into your life.  You must believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead and that He is now the Lord of your life (Romans 10:9-10).  Because of your belief in Jesus Christ, you are justified, sanctified and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise (Ephesians 1:13).

It is by grace you are saved through faith, not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The Holy Spirit is the center of Christ’s work on the earth today.  Jesus is the vine; we are the branches.  Without Him we can bear no eternal fruit (John 15:1-8).  The Holy Spirit is our comforter, our teacher and our advocate with the Father.

Soon Christ is coming for His church.  Born-again believers will be caught up together with the saints to meet the Lord in the air, and we shall ever be with the Lord.  At that moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we shall be changed from corruptible to incorruptible, mortal to immortal to receive the glorified body He has prepared for us.  Heaven is our eternal home—no more death, no more dying, no more pain, no more sorrow or crying.

There is only one church, which is comprised of the born-again believers in Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

To grow in the Lord, believers in Christ must read their Bible, pray, fellowship with other believers, encourage one another, submit to the lordship of Christ, and share the gospel. God will lead a person in all of this when they truly desire that His will be done in their lives. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).

With God all things are possible, and nothing is impossible to him who believes.  All things are possible because we have come into the heavenly kingdom, to Mt. Zion, to the eternal place of the Most High: our Lord, our God, our King and our Savior.  Amen.