Proclaiming Release: A Program for Theological Education Behind Bars

About Jamie

Imprisoned as a teenager in the early 1990s for his accessory role in a robbery-turned-homicide, Jamie Meade has grown from a troubled kid in Detroit to a self-aware man with a desire to help others find and stay on a path of self-respect and compassion.

His search for meaning led him to a long-distance relationship with Woodside Church of Flint MI, the UCC/American Baptist congregation where he eventually became a member and began discerning a call to ministry.

While serving a life sentence in the Michigan state prison system, Jamie has earned multiple degrees, has become an advocate for his fellow inmates, and has been involved with organizations on the outside that work to reform a system that writes off too many men and women as unredeemable.

About the Program

With the support of congregations and the Michigan’s Covenant Association CTS launched the Proclaiming Release pilot program 2020. Today, the Proclaiming Release Scholarship Fund at CTS provides scholarship support to students, with preference given to individuals impacted by incarceration.Your support will help people like Jamie take advantage of graduate-level theological education at CTS.

While Jamie will be the first in this pilot program, we don’t imagine he will be the last. He is helping us discover a new way the Church and CTS can hear the voices and honor the experiences of those we too often dismiss as “the least.”

How to Support Proclaiming Release

Gifts to Chicago Theological Seminary can be directed toward the Proclaiming Release Scholarship Fund. Gifts can be made online or mailed to: Chicago Theological Seminary, 1407 E 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637

For questions about the program or giving, please contact Chad Schwickerath, Vice President for Advancement by phone (773.896.2434) or email ([email protected]).