OUT OF EXILE: Superstar Jennifer Knapp is performing live at Burlington Lutheran Church for one night only! Knapp is playing to raise funds to support the unique and vital work of Underground Ministries.
TICKET PRICES will be donated to Underground Ministries; they start at $10. We suggest $20-$25 per person, with a warm invitation to contribute more if you are able. Tickets are required for entry to the concert. There is also an option to donate on top of the ticket price. Please contact the host if you are experiencing financial barriers.
UNDERGROUND MINISTRIES opens new relationship of embrace and trust between the incarcerated and the communities to which they return – for our mutual transformation and resurrection.
Underground Ministries statewide organizing the One Parish One Prisoner and Underground Employment models spring from their historical and ongoing work of relationship and reentry among gang-impacted families here in Washington States Skagit Valley. “We focus on helping those we love in prison, in gangs, develop hope and individualized release plans leading up to their release dates. We pick them up at the prison gate, celebrate them. We accompany them through the gauntlet of legal and social barriers. We believe this is where the greatest potential for transformation lies – not only for gang members and prisoners to begin an entirely new life, but for the wider community of churches, employers, and families to learn anew how to love and share life with our neighbors we formerly relegated to ghettos and lockdown human landfills.
The One Parish One Prisoner (OPOP) program asks, “What if every church became a local reentry team, a resurrection community walking alongside just one neighbor leaving the tombs of incarceration?” OPOP seeks to equip parishes – faith communities small or large, traditional or rag-tag – in every American town to build supportive pre-release relationships with just one person returning to their community from prison. They build release plans together, roll away the stones of reentry barriers together, and discover that we belong to one another. Currently there are over 70 OPOP churches in Washington state, with plans to expand to key cities in the US.
For more information and to learn how you can be involved, go to undergroundministries.org
Burlington Lutheran Church (BLC), host and organizer for this event, is a unique community of faith in the heart of Skagit Valley. Since 1904, BLC has held to core Lutheran values, such as never-ending grace, and seeing the real presence of God in the midst of suffering. BLC is proud to be the 4th OPOP team, which aligns with their values of relational, local engagement and inclusion, as they seek to provide safe spaces for historically excluded populations.
For more information, go to burlingtonlutheran.org