“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the broken hearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.” Isaiah 61:1 (NLT).
Imagine there’s someone in your community who is about to unknowingly stumble into a situation that involves human trafficking. What if God chose you to be the person who changes their story?
Human trafficking is the global issue of humans selling humans for profit without the victims consent. To combat this, our HOPE61 ministry was created to get churches informed about this crime of human trafficking, and to equip people in using their gifts and talents to make true community with those who are vulnerable.
Statistics from Global Estimates (2021), stated that “49.6 million people are victims of human trafficking. 15.1 million of those people are working in the Asia and Pacific regions”. Unfortunately, these people are being robbed of their childhoods, their families, and their God given worth. We need to get to the roots of the issue, and we can only do that by everyone doing their part.
If this is a ministry that pulls on your heart strings, there are three ways you can get involved.
Pray
This is the biggest asset we have to end human trafficking once and for all. Nothing can be accomplished without the power of the Holy Spirit. As we pray and fight for justice in the spirit, God can and will move mountains in the best way possible.
2) Learn
HOPE61 offers one day human trafficking prevention trainings that informs you of what human trafficking is, gets you informed about people’s biggest vulnerabilities, and equips you in recognising what you can do for your community. This training can be split over two days/evenings, if that works better for you. We can train small groups or churches, just get in touch and we’ll make a plan!
3) Fundraise
If event planning and fundraising is your gifting, you can help by hosting events to raise money for HOPE61. These funds are used to send our HOPE61 trainer Imogen Cook, around New Zealand and other countries in the Pacific so more people are able to be informed and get equipped with this information.
If you want to take a step in helping prevent human trafficking, email Imogen at hope61@oms.org.nz and she’ll tell you everything you need to know. Together, let’s make a plan!
Originally written 15 July 2019.
Revised April 2024.