If We All Do Our Part, We Can Win in the Fight Against Human Trafficking
THE FAITH COMMUNITY HAS THE POWER TO END HUMAN TRAFFICKING
80% of people in the U.S. believe in God. Over 51% of people attend a faith community. That makes the faith community the most powerful community in the U.S. both in numbers and because we have God on our side. What gives the human traffickers power is that they are highly organized. They have their own social networks where they share how not to get caught, training programs for recruiters, etc. However, the faith community has far more power because there are more of us than they are of them. We just need to organize, collaborate and empower each other. We win when our effort is more powerful than that of the human traffickers. The Mission of Through God's Grace Ministry is to empower the faith community to take action in the fight against human trafficking and to organize their efforts. This site is directed to the faith community. For community organizations involving schools, health clinics, service groups, businesses, etc., you can go to our sister site, "Together, We Can End Human Trafficking" where you can learn what works to reduce human trafficking for community entities. Your donation supports our outreach to the faith community and our Awareness campaigns. Through Gods Grace is under Together We Can End Human Trafficking which is a 501C3.
About Us
OUR MODEL
Our mission is to raise awareness in the faith community, especially in churches, regarding how they can act in the fight against human trafficking. This includes teaching people individual efforts like what is at this site and building efforts within ministries like a social justice ministry or equipping faith communities to create a stand alone anti-human trafficking ministry. This site offers many resources for churches including but not limited to parent and teen trainings, presentations for men, and a presentation on how to get started. This site offers simple 15 minute actions and suggestions for what projects that churches can take on that will make a difference in the fight against human trafficking. Our one hour parent/church training has been done with over 4,000 parents and our teen presentation has been done with over 6,000 teens. At the trainings we invite participants to come to a follow up meeting to build a ministry effort or to simply talk about one action they could take that year. From there, we invited churches to come together to network and share at faith coalition meetings what is working to take action.
THE FIRST STEP IS TO CREATE MINISTRY EFFORTS
Churches partner with us by having us speak at their services, sometimes during the homily, most often at the end for 5 minutes where we let church members know that human trafficking is the second largest and fastest growing criminal enterprise in the U.S.. At the table outside after the service, we answer questions and pass out flyers. During the talk we invite church members to a meeting where parents learn how to protect their children and the church can learn how to take action. At the end of the parent training, we ask who in the group who like to be a part of the effort to fight human trafficking and invite them to another meeting. At the follow up meeting we find out what people are most passionate about.
It may be Fair Trade, so we talk about what would work to raise awareness so that church members commit to purchasing slave free products. The group may feel strongly about reducing demand, so they would take the kind of actions recommended on our "Reduce Demand" tab. Their passion may be to support a local non-profit that takes care of victims of human trafficking so we talk about doing a drive or fundraiser. The group may have members who have been involved in related projects like recruiting foster parents and mentors, so the group follows their lead. The faith community may already be skilled at doing events, so they take on doing an educational conference. Sometimes these efforts become a ministry. With smaller churches a woman's group or men's group or singles group etc. may take on one or two efforts per year. For more ideas on projects that faith communities can do, please see our "Mobilizing Your Community" tab.
THEN YOU CREATE COALITIONS
When we speak at a church or synagogue, the question we are always asked is "Who else in my community is working on this issue?" They are looking for ideas and how to partner. So we made 7,000 (3 minute) calls to churches and synagogues in the Southern California area, which is our home base and got email addresses, found out which faith communities were active, etc. and formed several So Cal Faith Based Coalitions. You can find the model for what we did at that website by clicking on the link above. These networking meetings are for people who feel called to act, so they can come together to find out what can be done in a faith community. Active churches share what they are doing. Then during the networking session, which is the last third of the meeting, people connect with the faith communities they want to partner with, who share their interest. For the middle third of the meeting, there is a speaker like a law enforcement officer who updates the group on what is happening locally and answers questions. Or it could be a speaker like a fair trade organization that lets the group know how they can support them with their local efforts. These meetings have been invaluable to the group as they inspire participants as to what can be done, who they can partner with and what their resources are.
These coalition meetings meet twice per year. In the meantime, we have "anchor" churches which are active churches with a ministry that meets on a regular basis so participants can connect locally by going to those meetings to find out what is happening in their local area. With 51% of people in the U.S. attending a faith community, the only advantage organized crime (the human traffickers) has over the faith community is that they are organized. Once the faith community works together and helps each other to grow, we will be unstoppable!!