Moving from education to action against human Trafficking

This weekend was a big education and awareness weekend in Raleigh and Pasadena about the issue of human trafficking. We are excited to be a part of a community (Visio Dei) that is wrestling with how we can join with God in rescuing people out of these situations. Visio Dei sponsored a benefit concert, invited Kimberly Smith (who works to rescue women and children from human trafficking) to come and preach at their church gathering, and slept out at the capital building with others on Saturday night to raise awareness. My school, Fuller, held the ASHA forum to educate and equip the church to deal with this issue. We had speakers from all over the world, and we were able to gather a good deal of resources.

To find watch videos to find out more info:
http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/ProjectVideo.aspx



I just read an article today in TIME on the Jamestown Colony at the beginning of our country. I used to drive by the Jamestown exhibit everyday on the way to Jamestown high school when I was on staff with Young Life in Williamsburg, and it was a reminder at the ways we justify the dehumanization and oppression of others. When I studied American History in college, I was always shocked that the majority of the christian church justified slavery and supported it as a positive part of building a healthy society. I got to see the continued cycles of the founding system in our country that allowed "liberty" and slavery to exist side by side continue to play out in the life of our community.

In addition to the many injustices in our culture, slavery still exists in many places in the world. Human trafficking is 32 billion dollar industry. Since coming to California, this is an issue Danielle has become passionate about, and we have been working to educate ourselves on the issue to see what ordinary people can do about the problem. Just as the church justified slavery in early America, there were always a minority that voiced out and worked for the abolition of slaves. Christians were always leading the way to free people from slavery.


Danielle has found this book helpful to learn about the issue and has been discussing it with a group of women:

In our culture, the church often lives by the accepted values of consumerism, comfort, security, and convience so much that we fail to connect to God's imagination to bring healing and rescue to those who despeartely need it. Jesus did not live, die, and rise from the dead to justify our self-absorbed existence but to call us out of ourselves into a life that is lived fully for the rescue and redemption of others. He wants to inspire an alternative imagination in us to restore the world to God's intentions.

This is an issue we need to think about, pray about, wrestle with, and support.

What did my friends in Raleigh learn this weekend?