What does the word KAIROS mean?
There are two Greek words for time. One of them, with which we are all familiar, is ‘kronos’ meaning linear time hours, day’s weeks etc. The other is ‘kairos’, used in the sense of time set by God for a particular occurrence.
‘KAIROS’ was found to be a word of very special significance in the environment of the correctional institution where the word ‘time’ carries so many special connotations Read More
Kairos Facts
Kairos is a Christian, lay-led, ecumenical, volunteer international prison ministry, in which men and women volunteers bring Christ’s love and forgiveness to incarcerated individuals and to their families. Kairos consists of three programs: The Men’s and Women’s Ministry, begun in 1976, Kairos Outside, for families of prisoners, begun in 1991, and Kairos Torch, for juvenile prisoners, begun in 1997. Read More
Kairos Method
As background, Eduardo Bonin, Bernadello Vadell, Fransico Forteza, and others were inspired to develop a program designed to seek and coach Christians capable of being strong representatives of Christianity in their communities and environment. The program they developed, Cursillo, began as a movement of the church in Spain in the 1930’s. The founders aimed to face the reality of the in world that they might transform it. This transformation becomes possible as man feels the penetrating love of Jesus Christ that goes deep into his human reality – it is a spiritual experience. The desired result is that each person chosen to participate in Cursillo would know how to work effectively in their own world and environment. Kairos has adapted Cursillo for the prison environment. Read More
Kairos South Africa History
1996 – David Denner visited a workshop for Kairos volunteers preparing to launch Kairos at The Verne, England, seeking financial support for his dependency recovery ministry in the prisons around Cape Town, South Africa.
May 1998 – The first Kairos South Africa Adhoc committee (committee formed to start up a prison ministry in an institution) was constituted for Pollsmoor prison in the Western Cape, thereby forming Kairos South Africa
December 1998 – Kairos #1, first Kairos weekend held in a South African prison in Pollsmoor. The rector(leader) of the weekend was David Denner.
12 December 1998 – the first Instructional Reunion was held in Pollsmoor. Read more
Kairos International History
In 1975, Tom Johnson, an attorney and Catholic Cursillista from Miami, Florida, attended an ecumenical Cursillo gathering in Atlanta, Georgia. Though delegates came from several denominations presenting Cursillo weekends, this Atlanta gathering was heavily Lutheran. The original Cursillo movement was derived from the Roman Catholic church of Spain. Read More
Kairos Prison Ministry International, Inc.
The Kairos Prison Ministry National Board of Directors directs all Kairos, Kairos Torch, and Kairos Outside leaders to provide copies of this policy statement to all participants of the Kairos Team prior to participating in a Kairos, Kairos Torch, or Kairos Outside Weekend. Each Kairos Leader should have and read the Kairos Organizational manual prior to the Kairos Weekend. Read More
Servanthood in Kairos
We were recently asked by a group to discuss servanthood in Kairos. This is a complicated subject, but we have a few thoughts. From a biblical reference we might consider some of the elements of servanthood: submission to authority (1 Peter 2:13-17), labor(John 9:4), joy (John 15:11), peacefulness(John 14:27),faithfulness(Matthew 25:21), love (Gal 5:13),duty (Luke 17: 9-10), grace(1 Peter 4:10), kindness (2 Timothy 2: 24). The ultimate example was given to us by Christ when he modelled servanthood by washing his disciple’s feet (John 13:1-17). It is interesting that the Greek noun agape (love), and the verb agapao occur 31 times in John chapters 13-17. Read More