(16.) Women and Children First: Faith-Based Ministries for the Vulnerable and Exploited
(16.) Women and Children First: Faith-Based Ministries for the Vulnerable and Exploited.
“Rescue those who are unjustly led away to death; those who are staggering to the slaughter, Oh deliver them from their doom. If you claim ignorance and excuse yourself by saying, ‘Look, we didn’t know about this! or if you say that it is none of your business… Is not God able to judge your motives? Does not God understand all hearts as He watches over everyone? Will He not reward you according to what you do, and repay all people as their actions deserve? God sees through your excuses and holds you responsible for failing to help those whose lives are threatened.” (Proverbs 24:11-12).
God Hates Evil. The mistreatment of women and children, this dishonoring of God’s image, this degrading of human sanctity, certainly qualifies as evil in God’s eyes. As we continue to grow in our relationship with God, we discover that we yearn to progress in loving what God loves and hating what God hates. If we are not growing in those two areas of God’s character, it’s doubtful we even have a relationship with God to begin with. Following the example of Jesus in the gospels, loving the sinner while hating the sin itself is crucial to our growing in the character of the Lord. If God finds certain behavior morally disgusting, but we find it acceptable, then we are not where we should be. It might be surprising to realize that God can have hate in His heart. We know that God is full of love, that He is in fact Love. But hate? That is a difficult concept to digest. But think about it more, and it starts to make sense. Like the Father He is, God loves us so much that He hates whatever might be destructive to us, whatever might come to harm us or our relationship to Him. God’s hatred for evil comes out of His eternal protective instinct. Another thing to think about… God is purely righteous, virtuous, filled with goodness through and through. Out of His goodness, He established a moral universe. Since the profoundly tragic fall of mankind, the overall moral universe remains, but immorality has to be dealt with and judged. Because of the way God created the world, there are rights and wrongs, the moral and immoral, the righteous and the unrighteous. God hates the wrongs. It’s no wonder the early Christians called them the ”deadly sins.” God wants to give us life, the evil one wants to give us death. God hates whatever might be deadly to us. God hates whatever in the world was not a part of His righteous plan for the world. Simply put, God’s hate comes out of His righteous love for us and His world. Yes, God hates. But He hates whatever is worth hating. God speaks plainly in His Word about what He loves and what He hates, about what God embraces and what He rejects. Naturally, as we are becoming aware of what God hates, we will also learn what God loves. The truth is, if we are being transformed into the likeness of Jesus and thus the character of God, we show our fearful love of God by joining Him in hating what is evil. “To reverently honor the LORD is to hate evil. I hate pride, arrogance, evil behavior, and twisted speech.”(Proverbs 8:13). Or, as the psalmist proclaims in Psalm 97:10, “Let those who love the Lord hate evil.”
“Enough! How long will you defend the evil-doers? How long will you show kindness to those who do wicked things? You’re here to defend the defenseless, to give justice to the weak and fatherless, to maintain the rights of the oppressed and needy. Your job is to rescue the powerless and stand up for them, to deliver them from all who exploit them!” (Psalm 82:2-4).
Lights in the Darkness. After reading and thinking about the other 15 articles in this series on the God-given moral imperative to put vulnerable women and children first, the question becomes… Now what do we do about this cultural hot mess? We can’t all be a Mother Teresea of Calcutta, a St. John of San Francisco, or a William Wilberforce of the Clapham Community. Well, actually, we can all do our part as God guides and enables us to be helpful in caring for the exploited and neglected that we become aware of. We can approximate these saints mentioned earlier in our own way. Our mere knowledge of a moral crisis is only the door-opener to doing what we can to participate in solving the problem locally, or healing the victims in our midst, one woman and one child at a time.
“Every Christian ought to be a refuge…. a hiding place from the wind, a covert from the tempest, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” (George MacDonald, Growth in Grace and Knowledge).
As countless Christ-followers have done through the centuries, there are many effective missions and ministries that have been developed which are doing God’s work for what Tim Tebow calls our MVP‘s, our “Most Vulnerable People.” Here is just a brief survey of faith-based programs and nonprofits that serve women and children who are being exploited and victimized…
Tim Tebow Foundation: A global rescue team that fights human trafficking and child exploitation through Prevention, Rescue, and Survivor Care.
International Justice Mission: An anti-trafficking and anti-slavery ministry that works with local governments and law enforcement to rescue victims, prosecute the exploiters, and serve the survivors.
Destiny Rescue: A mission to rescue and reintegrate children who are being sexually exploited in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Agape International Missions: A ministry that uses SWAT-style rescue operations and subsequent survivor care to dismantle human trafficking networks at their source.
Present Age Ministries: A mission to combat the sexual abuse and trafficking of teen girls in North Carolina through preventive education and survivor support.
Forgotten Children, Inc: A ministry that operates within local communities to end human trafficking.
Life Impact International: A mission to rescue children from abandonment, slavery, and prostitution while also providing the resources for medical and emotional healing of the victims.
One More Child: A ministry that provides 24/7 mobile anti-trafficking teams that offer clinical services, mentorship, and recovery resources for survivors.
Samaritan’s Purse: A global outreach to women who face abandonment, exploitation and abuse, meeting their physical, emotional and spiritual needs through programs for awareness, prevention, vocational training, literacy classes and basic education, maternal and infant care, and biblical counseling.
Salvation Army: Providing a wide range of victim care for women and families through programs and shelters around the country.
Rescue Mission: Residential ministries that also offer vocational training, addiction recovery, safe housing, and Christian discipleship.
Refuge for Women: A national trauma-informed program that offers emergency housing and long-term care for women who have escaped sex trafficking/exploitation, and faith-based healing opportunities.
Cry Freedom Missions: Since North Carlina is a leading hub for human trafficking in the US, this mission reaches out, rescues and restores victims in NC by providing emergency shelter, long-term residential programs, vocational training, and transitional “safe housing.”
Scarlet Hope: This ministry reaches out to women who are in the adult entertainment industry who are usually trapped in addiction, poverty, and trauma, by building long-term relationships and mobilizing the local churches to respond to these women in a supportive way.
“Wisdom pours into your life when you begin to hate evil, for that is what worship and fearing God is all about. For God hates evil with a passion.” (Proverb 8:13).
The Best Child Advocacy Program I Know: There is an outstanding, highly effective, Christ-Centered non-profit organization that centers on the current need for child-centered advocacy, Them Before Us (thembeforeus.com). Here is their short mission description: “Them Before Us protects every child’s right to their mother and father by educating lawmakers, media influencers, and concerned citizens about the harm children suffer when those rights are violated. We center the child in every conversation about marriage and family including divorce, same-sex parenting, reproductive technologies, surrogacy, adoption, cohabitation. We take this child-centric message into the culture and courtroom and insist that all adults do hard things on behalf of children.”
“This what the Lord Almighty says, ‘You must see that true justice is done, that everyone is treated fairly, and you need to show lovingkindness and compassion to everyone. Do not oppress or take advantage of the widow, and do not mistreat children who have no father. Do not crush the stranger and do not oppress the disadvantaged poor. And do not plot evil in your heart against your neighbor.” (Zechariah 7:9-10).