- International YWAMer

The ministry of Youth With A Mission stretches across continents with an ever-widening network of friends and alumni. We easily partner with other organizations both local and international, so when moved to action, we are uniquely equipped to make a difference. With increasing vigor, YWAM teams are being moved to help the victims as well as the perpetrators of human trafficking and slavery.

Stephanie Pimentel, who leads a justice-focused DTS at YWAM Pismo Beach in California, places lessons on human trafficking and slavery alongside more traditional DTS topics. She believes Christians have a strong call to combat the evils of human trafficking.

“Sex slavery is one of the worst things Satan can do to a person,” she says. “It strips us of our identity. In the past, churches have backed away from dealing with sexual issues. There’s a lot of shame involved. But now, God is calling us to be forerunners for this cause.”

Pismo Beach DTS students travel to outreach locations where human trafficking is prevalent, in hopes of putting into practice their growing compassion. “It’s one thing to talk about human trafficking. It’s another thing to go out and make a difference,” Pimentel said.

The market for human lives has reached epic proportions. According to the United Nations, illicit human trafficking has a total market value of $32 billion. Kevin Bales, author of Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy, states that there were more slaves in 2004 than were seized from Africa through four centuries of trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Ruthie Kim, director of Because Justice Matters, a YWAM San Francisco ministry that reaches out to victims of human trafficking and prostitution, said the work of grassroots efforts has increased awareness. An estimated 40 percent of human traffic in California comes through San Francisco.

Over a period of 10 years, Kim watched women being exploited by prostitution and increased media attention of human trafficking in San Francisco led her to start Because Justice Matters.

“We were meeting these women, years later, and though they were much older, they all had stories of abuse and control that extended back to their teens,” Kim said. “All of it combined impressed upon me the need to respond to an issue that was clearly happening in our own city.”

Cutting off the demand for sex slavery is just as critical to stopping trafficking. In Bangkok, Thailand, Chris Lenty and the staff of MST (Male and the Sex Trade) Project are addressing another angle of trafficking – the men who come to Thailand to solicit prostitutes in the red light districts of Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket.

Lenty said that while some men solicit prostitution because of sexual addiction, desire for power, and control, others are there because of deep hurt in their lives.
“Several men have explained their pains stemming from sexual abuse, from either relatives or other circumstances, or emotional abuse from the separation of their parents, or divorce in their own marriage. As a result they look to the sex industry as a way to find identity, love, value, and self-esteem,” Lenty said. He wants to see MST Project move from Thailand to other red light districts across the world.

YWAM’s International Director of Mercy Ministries, Steve Goode, does too. He wants to see YWAM fighting the injustice and helping the victims of human slavery in every nation. He leads the mission in prayer for this topic in next month’s Global Day of Prayer – emphasizing just how seriously YWAM is taking this issue and declaring, “I am not for sale. You are not for sale. No one should be for sale.”

Come on YWAM – let’s go fight injustice!