Nebraska | DBSs and Cultural Transformation in the Police Department

The Police Department experienced a police brutality that really scarred the department and everyone working there. The whole city turned against the police. A Novo staff-member and some other believers went to the police station to pray for and bless the chief of police. They were invited back. Eventually, the chief of police gave his life to Jesus.

Police stations are like isolated, well-guarded countries; you can’t just walk in and start doing ministry. But the relationship with the police chief opened the doors for Novo to start a Discovery Bible Study at the station. Officers, attorneys, detectives, and others started coming. Faith in Jesus wasn’t something folks at the department really talked about, but these DBSs started to change that culture! Believers in the department became activated to really live out their faith and take it to non-believers.

At the same time all this was happening, the local Novo staff was also prayer-walking around the police station with other believers, specifically praying for justice in the department. A new chief of police entered the department, and he was already a committed follower of Jesus! This new police chief brought all kinds of reforms, and rewrote the department’s mission statement based on Micah 6:8. The police department had a ceremony where the officers removed their old badges and put on new ones that said, “Justice, Kindness, Humility.” This felt like such a specific answer to those prayer-walk petitions!

That same week the DBS scripture passage just happened to be Micah 6:8. When asked what this new mission statement meant to them, officers talked about how they’d had this “warrior” mentality—them against the world. But the brutality incident humbled them; they realized they lived in the justice space, but needed to consider how to be about mercy at the same time. One officer shared how they now ask someone they’ve arrested what radio station they’d like to listen to during their time in the police car; a simple way to acknowledge the humanity of the other person and show kindness. These officers carry a badge and authority to bring peace in the physical world; our hope is that more and more they will step into their spiritual authority to bring a different kind of peace as well—and we’re seeing the beginnings of that transformation!