What we believe
Daylight is a Christian charity that works alongside local Churches, Prisons and Community Chaplaincy networks.
We strive to honour God in all we do, sharing the good news about Jesus Christ and calling all to repentance. We do this because our eternal destiny matters and the transformative power of Christ is a recognised factor in the reduction of reoffending and the return to prison.
“The LORD does not delay His promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
The following headings makeup part of our vision and mission statements…
…“Glorify God and Enjoy Him”…
Paul enjoins us to do all for the Glory of God (1 Cor. 10) and our Lord Jesus found greater satisfaction than food in sharing the gospel with the Samaritan woman (John 4). Time and again we find great joy in our work as we tell of our LORD and walk with Him alongside prisoners, officers, chaplains and churches.
…proclaiming the gospel…
The Great Commission (Matt. 28) enjoins that “having gone” we “disciple all the nations”; wherever we go our goal should be to talk about the Lord Jesus and the salvation available in Him. We take light into the darkness as Paul referred to his work (Acts 26:23) and like John the Baptist declare it is “through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high shall visit us; to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
…alongside local Bible Believing churches…
The Lord Jesus instituted the church as the normal arrangement for His people, until we all live with Him in the “city which is to come” (Hebrews 13:14). Our role is not to parachute people into church or into prison from church, but to paraclete, to be called alongside. We will only come to a church if you ask us and we only operate in prison with the permission of the managing chaplain.
…nationally reaching & locally rooted…
We believe that the gospel is to go to all peoples everywhere, no one is beyond the need or reach of the gospel. Jesus Himself said that when we should reach out to prisoners (Matthew 25). To reach prisons nationally our vision is to be able to offer a Daylight Worker to every UK prison.
As we said above the church is how God has ordered His people so to be locally rooted those workers will be local to the their prison; based in a Church and community not too far from where they serve.
…highest quality…
In striving to honour God in all that we do we acknowledge, first, that we are “clay… the work of [His] hands”, (Isaiah 64:8) and second that we need to “work out our salvation…” (Philippians 2:12).
To that end, our work is overseen by trustees and our volunteers are approved by their churches and our own vetting and training processes. Workers obtain prison security clearance, and CTC when needed, and where relevant, our faith accreditation is via Churches in Communities and the Free Churches Group. Our work is funded by gracious individuals, churches, and grant-giving trusts and our spending is reviewed regularly by the Trustees.
Please see our doctrinal statement for more information.
“God bless all of you at Daylight, we will never be able to thank you enough for being there.” (From Daylight supporters whose foster son was in prison)
