Redeemed—and in the service of restoration

Few defections from the City of Man to the City of God have been as dramatic as that of Chuck Colson. As special counsel to President Richard Nixon, Colson was convicted of obstructing justice in the Watergate scandal and sent to prison. More serious still was the spiritual conviction handed down to him at the time. This judgment exposed the pride and “pretensions of power,” which he would later describe, that had driven him to that crime. God used political disgrace and prison to dislodge the old allegiance and transform the heart and ambitions of Chuck Colson.

Until his death 10 years ago today, Colson devoted the second half of his life to evangelism, discipleship, service, and cultural engagement. These efforts sought to teach what his own life embodied: Personal salvation in Jesus Christ makes us participants in God’s wider work of restoring all things. A decade after Colson’s passing, that powerful legacy continues to bear fruit.

When Colson left prison, he could have written a sensational political memoir. But in an early signal of his new loyalty, he chose instead to write an account of his spiritual fall and rise. Born Again was published in 1976 and sold nearly a half-million copies in its first year.

The Christian conversion of President Nixon’s “Hatchet Man” was so shocking that it left some to wonder if Colson’s transformation was authentic. But the evidence of his life would overcome their doubts. Colson practiced what he preached, year after year. Service to prisoners, their families, and former inmates became his focus. In 1976, he founded Prison Fellowship. Over the decades, the ministry expanded to more than 100 countries.

Colson believed that the same good news that can set a prisoner spiritually free, even behind bars, had broader implications for the conditions of the criminal justice system. The ministry that began with personal evangelism and discipleship of prisoners extended to seek public policy reform in the correctional system. So respected were his efforts that in 2014, Congress established the Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections, a bipartisan, blue-ribbon panel that presented reform recommendations.

As Colson worked with prisoners, he grew increasingly concerned about the moral relativism shaping their choices. But their drift from transcendent truth wasn’t unique. “Christians themselves failed to recognize how God’s truth applies to every aspect of life,” Colson wrote in a 2008 epilogue to Born Again.

By the 1980s, Colson was writing about these broader cultural dynamics. He started the BreakPoint commentary in 1991 to help believers consider issues of the day and connect the truths of the Christian faith with their larger world and life view. He argued that the church must live up to its charge to be salt and light if it is to provide an effective apologetic for Christianity and address social challenges.

Colson recognized that cultural challenges would particularly confront Christian commitments to uphold life, marriage, and religious liberty. So, in 2009, he joined Baptist theologian Timothy George and Catholic Robert P. George in crafting the Manhattan Declaration. The statement called on Christians to stand in solidarity concerning the dignity of human life made in the image of God, the created reality of marriage, and the importance of religious liberty. More than a half-million people have signed the document, and it continues to inform the institutional priorities of numerous organizations working on pro-family concerns in the public square.

Colson also launched a fellows program for more intensive worldview formation. By next month, nearly 3,000 fellows will have been commissioned over 17 years. Participants in the 10-month fellowship learn how to apply Christian principles to today’s pressing issues. They discern how their gifts can serve God’s work of restoration in their sphere of influence, and each fellow develops a three-year project to put those reflections into action. Recent fellows have created a worldview curriculum for elementary school students, implemented training for business leaders to apply Biblical principles in their organizations, and created a podcast to interview former atheists about their conversion to Christianity.

Today the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, led by John Stonestreet, houses the Colson Fellows, BreakPoint, and other platforms, operating from the conviction, “Every Christian can live like one.”

That refrain echoes a charge Chuck Colson delivered in his final speech, just days before his death. When it comes to the Christian faith, he urged, “we have to live it and express it and contend for it.” His own example did just that. Colson’s conversion made him look for opportunities to serve God’s renewing work in the world. To his last breath, he never stopped calling on Christians to do the same.

Editor’s note: Jennifer Patterson serves on the board of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview.