How did this all start?

Here's a message about my journey towards IJM and an understanding of social justice, which I shared yesterday at The Vine of Greater Orlando:

My journey with International Justice Mission actually begins in Sri Lanka of all places.  I went to Sri Lanka in 2009 on a mission trip with Northland to serve at a summer camp for orphans.  Honestly, I went to Sri Lanka to escape more so than to serve.  I was into my second year of college and tired of trying to figure out who I was and what I was supposed to do with my life, and I really just wanted to get away and experience something new and take my focus off myself for a while.  Well, in Sri Lanka, I met a team from Ukraine who leads an orphan ministry in Ukraine called Hope for Orphans.  I completely fell in love with the Ukrainian team and so every summer since then, I have spent quite a bit of time serving with Hope for Orphans, and it was through these experiences that I began to understand the horror and reality of sex trafficking.

Sex trafficking is a deeply rooted problem in Ukraine, especially for Ukrainian orphans because they are vulnerable and unprotected.  There are approximately 200,000 children residing in orphanages in Ukraine, and they are viewed as a burden on society.  Sometimes orphanage directors actually inform traffickers when children are going to age out of the orphanage, (orphans are usually forced out of their orphanage at age 16) and the traffickers pick up girls directly from the orphanage.  This is easily done because few people know or care about what happens to these children.

In Ukraine last summer, this reality hit me in a very personal way.  At an orphan camp in the Carpathian mountains, I met a 13yr old girl named Sveta.  We met on the very first day of camp.  I was attempting to practice speaking Russian, and she was doing a much better job practicing speaking English.  We soon became good friends.  One day, she showed me a few small things she owned that were very valuable to her.  One of these things was a photograph of a little girl about 7 years old with short, straight brown hair.  Sveta told me the little girl in the picture was her best friend, Masha.  Sveta explained to me that a few years ago, a man came to the orphanage and told Masha she was beautiful.  Masha was afraid of the man and said he was crazy.  The man took Masha, four other girls, and one boy, and Sveta hasn’t seen Masha since.

Now, I don’t know what happened to Masha, and I don’t want to assume she was picked up by a trafficker, because I don't know that.  But, being face-to-face with the mere possibility of that and knowing that is the reality for so many little girls completely wrecked my heart.  I had to do something about it.  God gave me the great privilege of meeting Sveta and dozens of other children who He cherishes and grieves for and wants to use us to save and restore.

But it’s not just in Ukraine that people are exploited, this happens all over the world and even in our own back yards.  As God motivated me to seek out ways I could defend the orphan, He opened my heart to injustice all over the world and led me to International Justice Mission.  This summer, a friend of mine who went to Sri Lanka and Ukraine with me told me her sister works with IJM UK and they were looking for interns, so I applied and was accepted at the end of July.

IJM seeks to rescue thousands, protect millions, and prove that justice for the poor is possible.  They do this through a four-fold purpose of: victim relief, perpetrator accountability, victim aftercare, and structural transformation/abuse prevention. This is all accomplished through casework, education, and mobilization.

As a business operations intern in the London office, my focus will be education and mobilization- educating communities in the UK and abroad about oppression, and mobilizing churches to seek justice.  I will maintain donor correspondence- write thank you letters and updates from the field offices, conduct research, collect and organize data, organize awareness and training events, represent IJM at conferences, and anything else that is needed in the office.  It’s a small office- there are only 4 interns and 12 staff- so I will keep very busy and involved.

Since IJM is a nonprofit organization, my internship is a voluntary position. The Lord has shown me a need, given me a passion, and through this internship with International Justice Mission, He has provided a specific way He can use us to do something about it.

Social justice is a very popular movement in society today, and that’s a good thing, but, as I’ve learned the hard way, it can also be a very dangerous thing if our motivation isn’t the Lord.  Scripture is flooded with verses that speak of God’s passion for justice, the whole book of Isaiah speaks of the justice and righteousness of the Lord, but I want to bring to the surface Isaiah 26:10 which says, “If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the Lord.”  Justice ultimately matters because through it we see the majesty of the Lord.  People matter and deserve dignity because they bear the image of God.  God is just.  We are not.  Our understanding and pursuit of justice must be rooted in Him. 

Last summer in Ukraine, I met many orphans with horrific stories, and I began to doubt God’s goodness.  I could not understand how God could be sovereign and loving and yet let these children continue to suffer.  God was breaking my heart for what breaks His, but instead of leaning into Him and recognizing that, I became bitter and angry.  I allowed my weak understanding of justice to overshadow my knowledge of the Lord.  Gradually, God showed me that any empathy or love I had for these kids came from Him, and any small sense of justice I had gained was a gift from Him.  When we engage the deep suffering of the world, we must engage an even deeper knowledge of God’s goodness.

It is a good thing for us to pursue justice.  The Lord spoke through the prophet Micah that we are to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.”  But I’ve realized we cannot do justice unless we love mercy- because who are we to judge?  We are not blameless, and it is only by the grace of God that we have any love or understanding of justice- and we cannot do justice or love mercy if we are not walking humbly with the God of justice and mercy.  It all comes down to Him.

The last thing I would like to say is this – There are nearly 30 million men, women, and children trapped in slavery right now, more than any other time in history.  That is a deep, deep tragedy, and we are sent by Jesus as He was sent to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, and to proclaim liberty to the captive.  But an even deeper tragedy is that every single person who does not know Christ is a slave to sin, and that number far exceeds 30 million.  Jesus sent us not only to bring freedom to the physical captive, but to every captive. And that starts right here – with the captive driving the car behind you on the way home, the captive serving you lunch, the captive in the cubicle next to you or the house next to you.  We hear of horrific injustice in the world and we desire to do something about it, and we should do something about it, but justice must start in our own hearts, our own homes, our own communities.  So let us press into the Lord, and proclaim His mercy and justice to the world.  And may we see “justice flow like water, and righteousness like an unfailing stream” (Amos 5:24).