Mission and Mass Incarceration
Bill Mefford, the United Methodist Church Director for Civil and Human Rights, argued that the way to mobilize churches to challenge the United State’s system of mass incarceration is to lead a congregation into “multiplex” relationships with those impacted by the system. Using various illustrations he talked about how “simplex” relationships can
deliver emergency aid or assistance–with one person or group offering another person or group temporary help. But, he went on to explain, to transform a structural problem churches will need to enter multiplex relationships. These are far more complex, demanding, and enduring. They unite people together through friendship, and therefore what concerns one person in the relationship will concern the other. These kinds of friendships, he offered, can be the seeds for change.