Anti-Trafficking

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

Comments

drobbins (not verified) Tue, 10/18/2022 - 07:27

Hi,
What is the date of Freedom Sunday?
Thanks for your help.
:-)

aheckman Thu, 11/03/2022 - 14:20

Hi! This year, a church can choose any Sunday to observe Freedom Sunday. I hope this helps!

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Nazarenes Gather for Peacebuilding Initiatives

Grace Tia — Tue, 23 Jun 2020 09:53:02 +0000

Nazarenes Gather for Peacebuilding Initiatives Grace Tia Tue, 06/23/2020 - 09:53

Nazarenes Gather for Peacebuilding Initiatives

“Why does religion seem to play a role in violence and discord in some [conflicts] while in others a role in building peace?”

Dr. Johnston McMaster, a professor at the Irish School of Ecumenics in Belfast, Northern Ireland, presented this question to a small group of Nazarene pastors and Nazarene Compassionate Ministry leaders from around the globe. He was sharing about the role that religion can play in areas of conflict—both for good and for bad.

Few places have experienced such intractable conflict as what is commonly known as “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland. McMaster continued on to encourage churches to develop practical systems and applications for reconciliation.

Fourteen Nazarene leaders gathered together in early March from areas around the world that experience conflict; the Church of the Nazarene has local churches and districts in 90 percent of the world’s armed conflict zones and many more located in areas of civil unrest, political instability, and latent conflict. And while the Church of the Nazarene has placed much effort in poverty alleviation, education, disaster relief, and other humanitarian aid, an emphasis in peace and reconciliation work as an outflow of our holiness theology has yet to be fully developed and practiced.

The peacebuilding group in Belfast came together with a desire, in accordance with Scripture and Nazarene theology, for the church to be a physical place for healing and reconciliation and to build the skill set necessary to practice conflict transformation in and for the community. The training was specifically designed to nurture peacebuilding activities that intersect with other program areas (eg. anti-trafficking, refugee and immigrant support, food insecurity, or emergency response), and included a diverse representation of leaders from five of our six global regions.

Teresa Stecker, a Nazarene pastor in Iowa, US, who works actively with immigration, says that she hopes to apply peacebuilding skills to issues of immigration and welcoming the stranger. Right now, Stecker says she’s thinking about the congregation of both black and white congregants at her church. “… my new question is what do I and the church have to do to build peace today?” she says.

One of the highlights of the gathering was spent listening to each other’s stories, where each participant was given time to learn from others and imagine new possibilities for faithful work in their own context. From migrant caravans to entrenched histories of civil war, from natural disasters to racial violence, from refugee work to violence against local farmers, from struggles with collective identities to political disappearances, the stories varied widely. And yet, they carried similar themes: the desire to remain faithful to God’s call to be agents of the gospel of peace, a seeking of best practices to aid their community’s health, the burden of witnessing and caring for individual and collective trauma, and the firm belief that God’s desire to redeem all things includes a redemption away from violence (and its effects) and toward life as God imagines.

Stephen Gualberto, a Nazarene pastor and staff member of the global church, says that the workshop continues to stimulate his passion to be a peacemaker and advocate of biblical justice. “It is enriched by its international mixture of participants who bring into the class a mix of experiences and knowledge,” he adds. Damaris Kellogg, an NCM Coordinator in Mesoamerica, also mentioned the global element, saying, “The main experience that I had … [was] to open my mind to hundreds of different conflicts around the world.”

Those at the gathering learned about peacebuilding analysis and theory, as well as tools to use and integrate their learnings in their home communities. Attention was given to creating physical spaces that are appropriate for the conflict experienced, and understanding how justice work fits within a peacebuilding framework.

“The Good News is not just the proclamation of holiness but the demonstration of it.”

Todd Womack, pastor of Flint Central Church of the Nazarene in the US, says that he hopes to embrace the knowledge and skills of peacebuilding, “… to usher in the fullness of the Kingdom of God to all but in particular the oppressed and marginalized of this world. The Good News is not just the proclamation of holiness but the demonstration of it.”

Like many gatherings around the world, the training was cut short by a day because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each participant was able to return home safely before more extreme travel closures separated them from their families. Since then, the facilitators have moved toward hosting virtual events to continue training and coaching these Nazarene leaders.

Eric Paul is currently serving as a missionary pastor alongside his wife Joy on the Big Island of Hawaii. He serves as the Coordinator for Justice and Compassion for the Hawaii District and is also the Executive Director of the West Hawaii Mediation Center. Eric studied nonviolent movements of social change at Vanderbilt Divinity School, was a part of Christian Peacemaker Teams in Israel and Palestine, and is currently in a Master’s Program in Conflict Transformation. He believes that conflict, when engaged in healthy ways, provides opportunities for individuals and communities to grow together and contribute to the health of individuals and communities.

Anti-Trafficking

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Freedom Sunday: Together, we are making a difference

admin — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 09:20:37 +0000

Freedom Sunday: Together, we are making a difference admin Thu, 03/14/2013 - 09:20

Freedom Sunday: Together, we are making a difference

Thank you for your participation in Freedom Sunday! Hundreds of churches around the world united in shining a light on the darkness of human trafficking this past Sunday. Our prayer is that Freedom Sunday would serve as the beginning of ongoing conversations about how we can continue to be a part of God’s movement of hope and freedom for those who are enslaved through human trafficking.

We encourage you to continue to…

• Pray for the victims of trafficking, for solutions to end trafficking, and for those who are exploiting the vulnerable.

• Learn about the issues surrounding trafficking in our own communities and around the world.

• Get involved in the movement to free the victims of trafficking.

• Support efforts to prevent trafficking (especially among children), minister to those who are enslaved, and work to end trafficking altogether.

Thank you again for your role in shining a light in the darkness.

If you have any questions about how you can continue to pray, learn, get involved, and support, please visit ncm.org/trafficking or email info@ncm.org.

Anti-Trafficking

Anti-Trafficking

Freedom Sunday: Make a Difference for Survivors of Trafficking

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