One of the many things I love about The Point is our desire to show Christ’s love to others. One of the ways we are intentional about doing this is through our justice team. I have gotten to be part of this team for almost 3 years now and am humbled by the ways the Lord has led this small team (usually 4-6 members each semester) in showing His love and justice to people in Vancouver and around the world. When we began 3 years ago, we had no idea what a justice team would or should even look like. None of us had ever been part of one before, but we were excited to have a pastor who was seeking God’s heart for justice and saw the church as playing a vital role.
Over the past few years, we’ve been involved in lots of projects and partnered with many organizations. We have looked at many issues, but one we have focused most heavily on has been the issue of human trafficking. Global reports show that an estimated 27 million people are held in modern day slavery. 27. million. people. today. A high percentage of those people are women and children who are forced to work in the sex industry. As we have researched and read, our hearts have been continually broken for what’s going on in our world. We believe that this grieves our Savior as well.
Recently, we have partnered with a group of local churches to take part in a postcard campaign. Laws surrounding prostitution and the sex trade in Canada, and specifically British Columbia, are being looked at and may be changing soon. This is a crucial time and we believe that the local church must speak up for those who have no voice.
On Sunday, we showed a documentary called DEMAND, which addresses the demand for paid sex and other parts of the sex industry (pornography, etc.) and how it affects individuals involved in the industry. We believe that if the demand were to be eradicated, the “supply” or women/children would no longer be needed. You can watch the film here.
In addition to watching the film, we asked people to fill out postcards asking their MPs (Members of Parliament) to consider legislation that would prosecute those caught buying sex, rather than those selling (most often, the women selling sex see little to none of the profit and are controlled by pimps or organized crime leaders). We were so excited to see at least 20 people stay after the service for the documentary and to have almost as many postcards to drop in the mail this week.
Join me in praying for positive change in BC, as well as in your own community. Also, check out information about last week’s screening on The Point’s Blog.
For more information, please feel free to contact me or check out R.E.E.D. (Resist Exploitation, Embrace Dignity) for further resources.
A very fuzzy picture of some of our Justice Team Members leading a discussion post-documentary screening.
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