Speaking in Detroit

In June, I had the privilege of speaking about the work of IJM at my home church in Plymouth, MI. On a Wednesday night I spoke for the youth and college groups at Solid Rock Bible Church. This was a really wonderful experience and I am still so encouraged by the response from both groups!

Speaking and hosting stands at different churches and events is one of my favorite parts of the internship. The more I speak about issues of injustice around the world, the more I am convinced that what IJM is doing is such an important part of God’s redeeming work for his creation.

Josh, the youth pastor at Solid Rock, opened the night with a game called “Agree/Disagree.” The whole group stands in the middle of the room and Josh will pose a statement and everyone chooses a side of the room to stand on, “agree” or “disagree.” He then goes to both sides of the room and each student has to give a reason for their answer. I LOVE this game! I think it is such a clever way to allow each student to think for themselves and express their thought behind it.

For this “Agree/Disagree” game, one of the statements Josh used was:

“There are more slaves today than there has been at any given time throughout the history of mankind.”

Each group had so many interesting responses to this question, but I was truly blown away by how many people didn’t know about the number of slaves in our world today! This was really encouraging for me, which may sound strange, but it helped me to remember that we are spreading the word about the reality of injustices like slavery for a reason: people don’t know about them and they need to. Some people get tired of raising awareness, but until everyone is aware of slavery, this will remain a crucial dimension in the fight against human trafficking. I was reminded of this as some of the young people there learned about modern-day slavery for the first time.

I was also encouraged by the amount of response from the people at Solid Rock. So many were excited to take action and be part of the stories of freedom and rescue and justice. As they should be! Each person truly can make a difference. I think about the beginnings of IJM, which was essentially one man seeing a need and asking God to help him meet it. Thousands of victims of violent injustice have been rescued because one person saw a massive need and didn’t think it was too big a problem to solve. Each rescue tells us that the end of slavery is not too audacious a prayer to bring before our Lord.

God loves the oppressed and longs to rescue them. We get to be a part of this redeeming story. The young people at Solid Rock know that and I am so excited to see how God uses them in his mission of justice.

Let’s keep raising awareness. Let’s take action and be part of the story. Because justice for the poor is possible. God loves them. God hears them. And in the end? God wins.