End It

If you aren't aware by now I am heart broken for child slavery. Today the End It Movement is trying to raise awareness as it is Feb 27th to represent the 27 million adults/kids enslaved in the world today.

In January, I invited anyone from our church to gather to pray, discuss, share or just feel supported if they were someone feeling burden to care for orphans (via foster care, adoption, or advocating/helping stop human slavery). I was feeling convicted and burden with this injustice personally and then also for the church to be involved. The time was great and I think encouraging for everyone. Last meeting we focused on foster care a lot as that is where most people had felt called. We are going to get together in March and I want to shine a light on human slavery. I also started compiling a list of resources and information for our meeting after attending a monthly Foster Care Community Partner Meeting and a couple of forums with Seattle Against Slavery and Frontline for Justice. I thought I would share it on here in case it could be helpful for y'all. Some of the opportunities are Seattle specific but others are international. I mentioned before that the cool thing about being in the body of Christ is that some people will feel that their heart and talents are best served in places such as ministering to people in prison or youth on the street, etc. But I still feel that to truly know God we should increase our knowledge of Him and acknowledge who He is. Tim Keller's commentary from 1 John 2:3-14 and Jeremiah 22:16 said it well "If we claim to know the God who is truth, who always does what is right, just, holy,loving and kind, and who always desires the same in us, that claim requires our obedience. To claim to know the One who created all things and who knows what is good and true is to agree with his assessment of all things, to be brought under his sway in all rings and to live in accordance with his will. If God cares about the poor, to know and acknowledge him will mean that we too will care about the poor. If God finds sexual immorality destructive to our humanity, we too will acknowledge its destructiveness and refrain from it."

 And I know based on the bible, His Word, that His heart breaks for the oppressed, widows, and orphans because it says:

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed; rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
PSALM 82:3-4

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. James 1:27

Learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow's cause. Isaiah 1: 17

So even if you are doing 1 other ministry or 10 other things, please consider praying for how it looks like for you to be involved in orphan care. It for sure can be prayer but may also be giving, going, or advocating. I have learned after doing very minimal research that I have a long way to go to be educated on all the different avenues in which kids/adults are oppressed, neglect, abused, etc and the causes for it (cultural, religious, lack of education, sinful world) and what role I am to play (SO FRUSTRATING because I am not patient). But, educating ourselves is a good way to start because if you were like me, in my little bubble, I was oblivious to the terrible, unspeakable things that happen in my city, our country and the world. It is nauseating to even speak of and when I place myself there I can't share what I have learned without breaking down in tears. As David Platt said "The goal here is not information about the gospel and social issues; it is application of the gospel to social issues." 

All that to say, here are the resources I am going to share at next Hallows Church orphan care meeting and thought you might be interested as well! 

Resources

Foster Care-Washington

1.Placement Center Visitation: Lisa McKee

 Phone: 206-923-4842

 mckeela@dshs.wa.gov

2. JoAnne Moran

 Fostering Together Liaison www.fosteringtogether.org

 Phone: 253-271-8397

 joanne-moran@olivecrest.org

Starting March 24^th  and then 4^th Tues of every month from 6-8pm At First Free Methodist Church in Queen Anne/SPU- NEW Fostering Together Support Group – 1^st one in Seattle area available for you to attend or if you have a group of 10+ who can help provide childcare and cook dinner (money provided) for the foster families. CONTACT: Mandy at mandy@ffmc.org 

3. DHS Social Worker Needs for new kids taken from cargivers: New youth/adult size girl’s yoga pants AND youth/adult size boy’s sweat pants  

Adoption

1.      https://www.nwae.org/resources-adoption.php?tn=4

Human Slavery

·      Slavery is not legal anywhere but yet 21-36 Million people are enslaved worldwide- slavery generates $150 billion/year for traffickers (78% labor slavery; 22% sex slavery)

·      India has the largest number of people in slavery: 14 million

·      The US has 60,000 victims in slavery today; Every night in Seattle 1000 women/girls will be sold into sex trade

Seattle Area

1.     Frontline for Justice http://www.frontlineforjustice.org/

a.    Frontline For Justice monthly meetings – The last Wednesday of each month- Northshore Community Church Room 210--
7-8:30pm

2.     REST http://www.iwantrest.com/

Next training is open to the community and is a prerequisite for REST volunteers.
Date: Saturday, April 25, 2015 9AM – 4:30PM
Where: First Free Methodist Church 3200 3rd Ave W Seattle, WA 98119
Fee: $49,

a.    which includes materials and lunch. The payment page will load after you submit this registration form.
Registration: http://iwantrest.com/events/detail/training-day

b.    Make Comfort kits (for rescued girls) or Welcome baskets (women moving into new homes) or give gift cards (see items/more info here: http://iwantrest.com/needs)

2.     SAS http://www.seattleagainstslavery.org/

a.    Pedal Against Trafficking Humans (PATH) Ride

Saturday, March 28th at 8am - Seward Park, Seattle

The Pedal Against Trafficking Humans (PATH) Ride is our annual event to raise awareness and funds for the fight against local trafficking.

Registration: http://www.pathride.org/registration/

b.    volunteer opportunites for hanging up awareness posters and they worked with REST to created educational material to present at middle and high school schools- seeking volunteers, especially males – Contact Tanya Fernadez at Tanya@seattleagainstslavery.org (NEED- presenters for human trafficking awareness and prevention curriculum  into Seattle Public Schools)

3.     Washington Engage http://www.waengage.com/

a.    SAVE 888-3737-888 IN YOUR PHONE (number of the hotline at the National Human Trafficking Resource Center sponsored by the Polaris Project. Save it on your cell phone. The line is manned 24/7, with multiple language interpreters available. Victims can also text BEFREE (233733) to be immediately connected to the NHTRC. )

b.    Host Cultural Grooming events (educational/informative sessions) around the area

4.     BEST- Businesses against trafficking http://bestalliance.org/

International

1.     Rescue:Freedom International http://rescuefreedom.org (providing safe homes for rescued victims)

2.     End It Movement https://secure.enditmovement.com (awareness program and funding rescue projects, health clinics, etc)

3.     International Justice Mission (IJM) https://www.ijm.org - tools for prayer, jobs, giving, advocating

4.     Shared Hope http://sharedhope.org

5.     Free The Slaves https://www.freetheslaves.net

  

Other

• ·      Slavery Footprint: http://slaveryfootprint.org/my-footprint
• ·      Made in a Free World: http://madeinafreeworld.com/slavery/
• ·      A Path Appears Documentary
• ·      Half The Sky Book
• ·      Shop Fair Trade products – examples of companies to AVOID: chocolate companies like Hershey’s and Nestle and shoes from Nike and Adidas, Forever 21, Motorola, Macy’s, Walmart, Chiquita Bananas eerand Coca Cola to name a few bigger companies (http://endmodernslaverynow.weebly.com/child-slave-labor.html)
• ·      READ BOOKS AND WEBSITES, WATCH MOVIES, GO TO FORUMS/TRAININGS TO EDUCATE YOURSELF

IIf you hung with me through that, way to go! I want to encourage you with this quote as it can seem overwhelm and daunting….

 “Seeking justice doesn’t begin at the door of a brothel. Seeking justice begins with seeking the God of justice.”

And not to forget this too as it can be easily pushed to the side….

“"God has an intimate connection with those suffering from violence, for each one is made in his image. What is God's plan to stop the violence? According to the Bible, we are the plan…….. Justice is not a side issue. It's not an extra credit option, but an aspect of God's core character that's so crucial that it deserves our undivided attention."- IJM

T And to leave you with these challenges….

"'Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public"- Cornell West and 

"You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know"- William Wiberforce

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