Group mobilises U.S. churches to save thousands of children from sexual abuse, slavery

By Shianee Mamanglu-Regala
Christian Today
December 21, 2015

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/group.mobilises.u.s.churches.to.save.thousands.of.children.from.sexual.abuse.slavery/74177.htm

A group fighting human trafficking is experimenting with ways to help save the hundreds of thousands of children who have been trafficked out of, or into the United States.

The Alliance for Freedom, Restoration and Justice said it has been working with Gateway Church in Dallas and many other churches and organisations to mobilise churches in America and worldwide to do their part to fight the problem and protect children from possible exploitation and slavery.

"It's a massive problem," says Ashleigh Chapman, president and chief executive officer of the alliance in Dallas, Texas. "The FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children pegs the number [of victims] at 300,000 children [in America alone]."

"We are deeply concerned that many are being trafficked in this nation. Many are being raped for profit every night. It's pornography, selling children online through the dark web. It is prostitution of children on the streets. It's a horrible thing," she was quoted by Newsmax as saying.

Chapman said the alliance has created the Engage Together Church Teaching Series, an eight-session series to equip churches with the knowledge, resources and strategies they will need to combat sex trafficking and protect the vulnerable in their communities.

The toolkit was designed specifically for the church with input from experts serving in the field and churches already engaged in combating human trafficking throughout the nation, she said.

The alliance noted that with the "dark trade'' going on across the globe, the only solution "is for the body of Christ to rise up and for members of churches to work in their own communities to address the problem."

Since 2010, thousands of church members, pastors, business people, government officials and others have joined the movement. Many reportedly became aware of the problem and how the toolkit contributed to teaching members practical things to fight trafficking.

"From that point as a church, we knew we had to respond, but we didn't know how to respond," said Troy Wierman, pastor of Local/National Outreach. "Our model of ministry at Gateway is to work with ministries as partners with those ministries in order to serve the local community.''

Bonnie Jo Daniels, the project director for Hope for Freedom initiative, said the Engage Together campaign is a great one for churches to use.

"Churches really don't know what to do or where to begin... And so we work with our churches here locally and help them to navigate."

The group hopes that more children could be saved from being sold in the black market as the initiative reaches churches globally.