Freedom Sunday

Freedom Sunday: Make a Difference for Survivors of Trafficking

aheckman — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 15:53:24 +0000

Freedom Sunday: Make a Difference for Survivors of Trafficking aheckman Thu, 09/08/2022 - 15:53

Freedom Sunday: Make a Difference for Survivors of Trafficking

“My life before I was rescued? I like to fight.”

Those are the words of a young survivor of human trafficking who found himself growing up in an abusive environment. For most of his eleven years, he experienced ongoing pain and trauma. Conflict, harsh language, and online trafficking left their marks, and acting out was a natural form of managing the stress he lived through at home.

Shechem Children’s Home, this boy found a place to begin a journey of healing. Once his rescue was complete, he joined the other children and house parents who call Shechem home, and immediate therapeutic intervention and spiritual and emotional support began to change his view.

In the Philippines, online sexual exploitation of children continues to grow. Unending demand from around the world incentivizes some adults to traffic the children in their homes or extended families. The Church of the Nazarene in the Philippines is meeting the needs of child survivors through the ministry at Shechem. There, therapists, house parents, pastoral staff, and social workers trained in trauma care help children find healing from their pasts and hope for their futures. Children live in the home until suitable and safe long-term placements are secured.

This survivor found new methods and tools to cope with his trauma and anxiety through therapeutic intervention at Shechem. While he still struggles with feelings of grief and anger over what he and his siblings lived through, the staff report that his outlook has improved over time. He also started school and is learning how to read and write.

In the therapy sessions, I learned to calm myself to think well. Inhale and exhale, take a deep breath and look for and feel a soft thing to release my anger,” he shares.

Helping children experience God’s love and care is an equally important aspect of Shechem’s ministry. The staff continually emphasizes that God sees, values, and remembers each child.

I learned to forgive others,” says this survivor. “I know God has changed me.”

Shechem Children’s Home is just one of many church-led ministries focused on caring for survivors of trafficking and preventing trafficking in the first place. Their work is vital, and they cannot do it alone. This year, we invite your congregation to support anti-trafficking ministries and take a stand against human trafficking by observing Freedom Sunday.

Freedom Sunday is a time for your church to learn about the problem of human trafficking, pray for survivors and those currently enslaved, and support anti-trafficking ministries through a Freedom Offering. In addition to supporting Shechem, the Freedom offering will also help fund:

A listening center and outreach ministry providing counseling and job skills training for survivors of human trafficking in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
A Nazarene-run emergency shelter in Texas that provides a safe, hope-filled space for survivors of human trafficking.

As in years prior, we have free resources (prayers, lessons, videos, and stories) on our website that you are welcome to utilize in your service or on your social media platforms to promote your Freedom Sunday observance. Visit our website to download and let us know when you are participating.

Thank you for taking a stand this year for survivors of human trafficking through Freedom Sunday.

Freedom Sunday

Anti-Human Trafficking

Anti-Trafficking

Shechem Children's Home

Eight Ways to Work for Freedom

Grace Tia — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 21:49:19 +0000

Eight Ways to Work for Freedom Grace Tia Thu, 08/12/2021 - 21:49

Eight Ways to Work for Freedom

Every year in September, the Church of the Nazarene observes Freedom Sunday, a time set aside to raise awareness of the issue of human trafficking, pray for those caught in slavery, and support church-led anti-human trafficking efforts.

Around the world, Nazarene churches are showing real, active love to those who are vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking. Nazarene Compassionate Ministries partners with those churches in anti-human trafficking efforts that range from prevention and education to protection and rehabilitation.

As Freedom Sunday approaches, you may be looking for practical ways you or your church can stand in solidarity with those impacted by human trafficking. Keep reading for suggestions to help you stand for freedom.

1. Pray.

Human trafficking is an evil that we can never fight on our own; we will need God’s presence, peace, and purpose. Ultimately, human trafficking is just a symptom of the bigger issue of broken relationships—with God, others, self, and systems. Survivors need our prayers, and we need the Spirit’s guidance as we stand against trafficking.

Find downloadable prayers here and here.

2. Learn about the issue.

Faith Alliance Against Slavery and Trafficking (FAAST) offers free toolkits and curriculum for churches, communities, and schools. There are two helpful Bible studies: one that focuses on the issue of exploitation in the Bible and one that focuses on the issue of human trafficking from a biblical perspective.

Nazarene Compassionate Ministries’ anti-human trafficking educational resources can be found here.

In the United States, the State Department’s website provides U.S.-specific information.

3. Support global holistic child development and economic development programs.

Internationally, the church’s strongest engagement with the problem of human trafficking is through prevention, including education aimed at at-risk children and youth through child development centers and providing economic and educational opportunities to lower the risk of poverty-induced trafficking.

Child development centers help children succeed in school and learn they are precious as children of God, which in turn helps them see their own value.

Women’s economic self-help groups and skills training programs empower members to improve their household finances, which lessens their children's risk of being trafficked.

Programs that focus on orphaned children bring children into families and keep them off the streets where they are vulnerable to abuse and “too good to be true” offers of employment elsewhere.

When you donate to holistic child development programs or sponsor a child, or when you give to support economic development programs, you’re helping vulnerable children and adults have choices and options outside of those offered by those who would abuse or use them.

4. Partner with anti-human trafficking agencies.

The best way to engage in anti-trafficking efforts is to learn from and partner with others. Learn from those who have experience and expertise. Partner with like-minded organizations.

In the United States, search this directory to find agencies near you.

When you find a local agency or safe home to support, here are a few ideas for how to get involved:

• Do a gift card drive based on the needs of a specific organization (ask ahead of time)

• Put together care packages (again, based on needs of an organization)

• Offer to sponsor an event for residents of a restoration home

• Encourage others in your church or community to donate professional services, such as medical or dental care, legal assistance, accounting, marketing, or grant writing as needed

• Homes may also need skills including transportation, tutoring, life skills, job skills, teaching Bible studies, gardening, etc. Always ask the organization what would be the most helpful.

• Encourage those in your church to offer jobs or internships to graduates of restoration homes

5. Teach children how to be safer online.

Netsmartz offers good guidelines for families, teachers, and churches.

6. Minister to children and youth in the foster care system.

Children and youth in the foster care system are targeted by traffickers because of their need for love and protection. A 2013 report by the HHS Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) cited several studies showing that 50 to more than 90 percent of children who were victims of child sex trafficking had been involved with child welfare services (HHS, ACF, 2013). Contact a foster care agency in your area and ask what your church can do to help foster youth, particularly those who are aging out of the system.

7. Support local law enforcement agencies.

Build relationships with local law enforcement to understand your local context and talk about how your church can support their efforts to fight trafficking.

8. Fight the demand.

Human trafficking is a big-money business. It ties with the global arms trade as the second-largest criminal income producer worldwide. Our culture and actions can actually drive demand for slave labor and commercial sex.

You can learn more about the connection between pornography and sex trafficking here.

Learn about the connection between consumerism and labor trafficking from the Global Slavery Index and Slavery Footprint. These sites are tools to understand the problem, responses, and contributing factors related to labor trafficking.

These suggestions are adapted from the Human Trafficking & Church Engagement document, available to download on our website.

Prepare to join this year’s Freedom Sunday on September 19, 2021. Let us know you’re participating by signing up on our website, and download free resources to help!

Freedom Sunday

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Finding Freedom: Hope after Human Trafficking

Grace Tia — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 04:42:36 +0000

Finding Freedom: Hope after Human Trafficking Grace Tia Thu, 09/17/2020 - 04:42

Finding Freedom: Hope after Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is modern-day slavery, where people profit from the control and exploitation of others.It impacts more than 40 million people in our world today. Human trafficking is a crime in which women, men, girls, and boys are bought and sold into forced labor or sexual exploitation. It is a truly global crisis, affecting people of every age, in every demographic, and in every country in the world.

Nazarene Compassionate Ministries supports church-led anti-trafficking efforts that care for survivors of trafficking and work to prevent trafficking for those who are vulnerable.

In the Philippines, Shechem Children’s Home is one such ministry. There, children who have been rescued from online sexual exploitation are given a safe place to live while receiving emotional, spiritual, medical, and psychological support, and while plans are made for long-term placement. The children receive care and support from house parents, therapists, social workers, and Nazarene volunteers. Today we want to share one story of one child’s journey of healing at Shechem.

Chen* is a five-year-old survivor, and she dealt with complex emotions following her rescue. She expressed anger and sadness toward her family for their neglect and communicated poorly with peers while struggling through her feelings. Often, she acted out physically.

Comprehensive assessment and art therapy sessions have helped the team at Shechem identify Chen’s emotional and psychological needs and given Chen the tools to express her emotions in a healthy way. Through emotional coaching, positive reinforcement, and the facilitation of self-regulation skills like art therapy, journaling, and prayer, Chen has found help processing her traumatic past. She now turns to drawing or playing when she starts to feel overwhelmed.

During her time at Shechem, Chen has ceased intentionally acting out physically. She says, “It is Jesus who makes me kind, especially for my hands to not hurt others.” The other children say they now love to play with her.

“I listened to my sadness in my chest and heart, then I need this house of Jesus to help me to be happy.”

When you participate in this year’s Freedom Offering as part of Freedom Sunday, you are making a difference in the lives of children like Chen, helping them find hope for a future after trafficking.

To learn more, visit ncm.org/freedomsunday, ncm.org/antitrafficking, and ncm.org/shechem.

Click the button below to donate directly to the Freedom Offering.

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*Name is changed for protection.

Freedom Sunday

Freedom Sunday

Freedom Sunday: Make a Difference for Survivors of Trafficking

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