Austins in Thailand

Recently the UN released a study on the world’s children. It documents that in 2002, 150 million girls and 73 million boys experienced forced sexual intercourse and other forms of sexual violence; between 100 and 140 million girls and women have undergone some form of female genital mutilation; of the 218 million of children who were working in 2004, 5.7 million were in forced or bonded labor in 2000; 1.8 million in prostitution and pornography; and 1.2 million were victims of trafficking.

What can be done about these horrible statistics?

Christ’s love compels us to do something. I would suggest three things:

1. Pray. Prayer often gets a bad rap: “If nothing else, pray.� Well, prayer is more powerful than that! Pray is powerful. Prayer changes things. Walter Brueggemann writes that when we pray we create whole new worlds. We need to pray against this demonic evil. We need to pray, imagining new worlds of joy and peace for our children. God listens, cares and answers our prayers.

2. Work on two fronts: a) rescuing those already caught and, b) proactively attacking the systems that create this and other tragedies. The first is rescuing those already caught. We need gifted courageous people to work on the front lines rescuing, bringing healing and loving those who have already been abused. Not everyone can or should do this. It’s heartbreaking, dangerous work. But there are people who are gifted and called to do this work and the rest of us should support them in every way we can.

3. The second front is proactively attacking the systems that create this tragedy. Let’s be honest. The main issue here is sin followed closely by corrupt systems put into operation because of sin and the enemy. Evangelism attacks the root of the problem. Education and social justice function as twin arms on the body of the Kingdom of God sweeping in.

Specifically, this is what I think:

• We must proclaim the Kingdom of God in everything we do and are.
• We need to recruit, train and support front line workers through organizations like Free Burma Rangers, Partners, etc.
• We should continue to strengthen our social justice and educational missions.
• We need to challenge the American and International Churches to do more in this area.
• The Free Methodist Church needs to create a task force to study and strategize and then act. We also need a declaration in our Book of Discipline speaking out against this tragedy and rallying us all around the issue.

What do you think? Send me a comment.