Helping the Church be the Church.
Harvest Prison Ministries is a national Canadian charity training and equipping faith communities to walk alongside people returning from incarceration since 2017. Alberta is where we are building next.
Government programs cannot provide belonging.
Social services, halfway houses, and institutional supports do important work. But they cannot give someone a community that knows their name. They cannot provide a spiritual family. They cannot offer the kind of sustained, personal presence that actually changes the trajectory of a life after incarceration.
Only the local church can do that. And the local church, at its best, was designed exactly for this. Harvest exists to equip churches to do what they were already built to do.
The 4% reoffense rate among Harvest candidates is not a program result. It is a relationship result. Seven years of evidence that when the right people are trained and matched with the right community, and given enough time to let the relationship become real, lives change.
When a Harvest candidate is placed with a trained church community and that community stays the course, the reoffense rate drops to 4%. The national rate is 63%.
Seven years of on-the-ground work.
Harvest has grown through direct relationships with churches, chaplains, and correctional facilities across Canada. The Alberta Initiative is the most structured expansion we have undertaken.
Harvest is founded
John and Roxana Kreklo establish Harvest Prison Ministries in British Columbia, beginning with direct chaplaincy work inside federal correctional facilities and the first church partnerships.
The model takes shape
After two years of direct placement work, Harvest formalizes the training framework. Candidate intake, church training, and the matching process are codified from the ground up.
National expansion begins
Harvest begins building church partnerships beyond British Columbia. The 4% reoffense rate among placed candidates is documented and becomes the foundation of every funding and partnership conversation.
Alberta Initiative launches
Harvest establishes a formal presence in Alberta through the Bridges of Canada FCRP program in Calgary and Southern Alberta, working directly with CSC under contract. Province-wide church recruitment begins.
Alberta registration
Harvest completes Alberta extra-provincial registration, establishing the legal and operational foundation for a full province-wide initiative and opening eligibility for Alberta-based grants.
The campaign year
The Alberta Initiative is now active. Twenty churches across all five Alberta regions are being recruited and trained. The year-end campaign target is $180,000. Church matching is underway.
The people behind the work.
John founded Harvest Prison Ministries in 2017 out of a long-standing conviction that the local church is uniquely positioned to serve people returning from incarceration. He leads the organization's national strategy, church development, and donor relationships, and is the primary architect of the Alberta Initiative. He and his wife Roxana are based in Sherwood Park, Alberta.
Roxana leads Harvest's church engagement and ministry relationships. She works directly with partner churches throughout their training and into placement, and is the primary point of contact for churches navigating the early stages of the relationship with their candidate. Her background is in pastoral care and community development.
Operating across Canada since 2017.
Harvest is a registered Canadian charity with seven years of operation. Alberta is the current focus of our expansion work, but the organization, the model, and the track record are national.
British Columbia
Harvest's founding province. Church partnerships, direct chaplaincy work, and candidate placements have been active in BC since 2017. The model was developed and refined here before national expansion began.
Alberta
The current expansion focus. Harvest operates under a CSC contract through the Bridges of Canada FCRP program in Calgary and Southern Alberta. The province-wide church initiative is now underway across all five regions.
Broader Canada
Harvest has developed relationships with correctional chaplains, church networks, and ministry partners across the country. The 60 for 60 initiative calls on sixty faith communities from coast to coast to each welcome one candidate home.
Seven years of proof. One invitation.
Whether your church is ready to explore partnership or you want to support the Alberta Initiative financially, the next step is a conversation.