Session encourages churches to join fight against human trafficking
By David Dawson
ddawson@tnbaptist.org
FRANKLIN — Ashleigh Chapman is a licensed attorney in the state of Virginia, but she made it clear that a person doesn’t need a law degree to understand and discern what the Bible has to say about the role of the believer in today’s society.
“You cannot miss it in Scripture — His call to every one of His children to engage in justice,” Chapman said during a recent webinar that focused on the crisis of human trafficking. “We are called to speak for those who can’t speak for themselves; to speak up and to judge fairly.”
Chapman is the president and CEO of the anti-trafficking organization Engage Together. She and her friend, Alana Flora, are the founders of the organization.
Chapman and Flora were the featured guests at the webinar, hosted by the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, on Jan. 25. The webinar was a free event that was designed to help churches take the first step toward becoming involved in the fight against human trafficking.
Beth Moore, compassion ministry specialist for the TBMB, was the host and moderator of the session.
“The goal of the webinar was to give churches an opportunity to step into the conversation,” said Moore, “and to encourage them to begin praying about what it would look like to engage in this battle.”
The 45-minute session — which was the first in a series of scheduled webinars — was a general introduction to the crisis of human trafficking. The next session will be Feb. 10, and registration is open at tnbaptist.org.
Moore said the timing of the first webinar was significant, with January being National Human Trafficking Awareness Month.
“This discussion is so important to us because we, as the church, must care for the vulnerable, the broken and the oppressed,” said Moore. “Again and again in Jesus’ ministry, we see Him doing this.”
Moore noted that Micah 6:8 outlines what God has required of believers: “to act justly and to love mercy and walk humbly with Him.”
During the webinar, Flora, the director of Engage Together, said one of the first steps in the fight against human trafficking is to recognize victims. And while that sounds simple, it’s actually not always easy.
“There is not one face of human trafficking victims,” Flora said. “It can be a minor, a foreign national, an adult; it can be someone in our family. It can be anyone.”
Flora said the cause of human trafficking is tricky to define, but can essentially be traced to one root element. “We know that human trafficking is the result of a lot of the broken things that are happening in our society,” she said.
Chapman underscored Flora’s comment by saying: “Human trafficking is the end result, the worst of consequences, of leaving people in vulnerable places in our communities.”
Flora pointed to one of her personal favorite passages, Proverbs 31:8-9, as a rallying cry to all churches to join the fight. “We are called to speak up!” she said. “That’s what I truly love about those verses: They are calls to action. We are not meant to sit back and passively say, ‘Someone is going to do that.’ … God is calling us to serve the broken, the lost and the oppressed. It’s our mandate.”
Chapman likewise pointed to her favorite verse, Luke 4:18, as being the driving force behind her passion for this cause.
She noted that, in the passage, Jesus mandates his followers to preach the gospel, but he doesn’t stop there. Jesus also speaks of healing the broken hearted, delivering the captives and “setting at liberty those who are bruised.”
“This is at the heart of the God that we serve,” said Chapman. “And we’d better be about our Father’s business. The whole of it. … God himself led the way (in terms of) providing an example.”
Chapman and Flora also discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded — and in some cases, created — situations in which individuals become in danger of becoming victims. “We are seeing an exponential rise in the vulnerabilities that the traffickers prey on,” said Chapman.
Online trafficking, for example, has increased dramatically during the pandemic. With many children attending “virtual schools” during the pandemic, the amount of time that children spend online has increased — and predators are taking advantage of that, Flora said.
The world has also seen a spike in domestic violence, isolation, child abuse, poverty and hunger during the pandemic, and these issues have resulted in an increase in trafficking.
Flora, Chapman and Moore each said that now, perhaps more than ever before, it is crucial for churches to become involved in the fight.
“We can’t do it without the church,” said Flora. “The church is an army of individuals, of ministries, of leaders who are uniquely equipped with gifts, talents, resources and knowledge.”
Flora noted that most churches already have in place a wide variety of programs — such as ministries for women, single parents and the homeless, along with after-school clubs and other such programs — that are aimed at helping those who are potentially vulnerable. Her hope is that Engage Together can work with those ministries to help raise awareness and prevention of human trafficking.
“This is our chance to come alongside (the church) in a lot of ways,” she said. “Churches are uniquely positioned, literally perfectly positioned — every community has a church on every corner! — for this.”
Flora added that, since most churches have already built relationships with those who might need help, it’s really just a matter of seeing how and where each church can find its role.
The first step, Flora said, is for churches to begin examining questions such as, “where does our church fit in? How can we help?”
In some situations, Flora said, churches will not need to start a new program; they can simply enhance what they are already doing. Moore agreed, noting that rather than adding new ministries, churches can train and equip those who are already in service positions.
Chapman said the purpose of the first webinar — as well as the ones to follow — is to help churches “move beyond awareness” into the action phase.
The next session in the series will dive deeper into “Ways to Engage” and what churches can do, specifically, to become involved in the fight. It will also examine some of the myths and misconceptions about human trafficking. For more information on the event, contact Moore at bmoore@tnbaptist.org. B&R