A somber atmosphere fell at a meeting of Lausanne 4 as church ministry leaders described the challenges faced in living out gospel values within difficult societal and cultural scenarios - after a human trafficking survivor in a presentation told of her abuse ordeal before being rescued and finding Christ.
The discussion ensued during an evening session entitled “Lessons from the Global Church. Reconciliation – The Church’s Responsibility in Areas of Brokenness” on Friday, Sept. 27.
The panel involved Dr. Daniel Kyungu Tchikala, a bishop of African Inland Church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC); the Rev. Dr. Ivan Rusyn, Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary; Dr. Rula Khoury Mansour, Nazareth Center for Peace Studies, Israel; and Dr. Emmanuel Ndikumana, Burundi, Regional Director for Francophone Africa, Lausanne Movement.
“Ruby,” as the trafficking survivor was referred to, with her full identity protected for security and discretion, recounted how financial woes led her to becoming trapped in a house at the age of 16, where she had to sell her body to stave off debts. However, any monies earned were taken as payment for food, and any goods used inside the building.
“You see the picture of slavery today,” she told the silenced gathering. “Slavery is not just bars and chains. The picture of slavery today is debt and interest.”
Ruby, whose communication devices were confiscated so she could not contact loved ones, had to perform sexually before online cameras for customers from different countries.
“They forced me to do things to satisfy their desires and I never imagined doing those things. Each time I did that, I wanted to scream.”
On one occasion, she began screaming for help when hearing the sirens of emergency sirens outside the traffickers’ house. A woman inside the building threatened her with a knife, holding it against the teenage girl’s throat, and telling her to stop.
“My whole body was trembling,” Ruby recalled sadly. She retreated to a bathroom and, although she had no particular faith, cried out to God for help: “God, if you are there, please take me out of here.”
The next day, a police raid led to her being freed, with the support of a social worker from International Justice Mission, a Christian organization. She was given support, although “the healing journey was difficult and long.”
“Every day was a constant reminder of abuse, especially during [the court] trials, being face-to-face with my traffickers. But God transformed my heart in such a way that I was able to forgive my traffickers during their trial. They received 15 years of imprisonment.”
Ruby leant on God’s power to find freedom and now, some 11 years later, she has finished college and works full time in a respectable job. However, Ruby feels impassioned to speak out on behalf of the many children suffering like she did, encountering sexual exploitation at the hands of predators.
“I cannot afford to think of another child going through the horrors of this crime,” she told the delegates at Lausanne 4, adding that she may lack money or power to help them. But she hoped that sharing her personal story would help galvanize others to take action to help such exploited youngsters.
“Sexual exploitation of children is a crime that destroys innocent lives of children. It's the devil's will to kill, steal, and destroy precious lives. But thank God that Jesus has come to give life in abundance. As the church, we need to build bridges that will provide survivors access to Jesus and the abundant life he promises.”
“And as the global church,” Ruby added, “we can do this by educating ourselves about this crime and other forms of child abuse and exploitation: listening to survivors and involving them in your decision making and ministry design, investing in efforts to rescue victims and restore survivors.”
“Perhaps it's time for your church to start this ministry,” she said, issuing a challenge for delegates.
After this presentation, panellist Mansour spoke at length about the difficulties of reconciliation in the context of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. She deplored the domination of “voices of hatred, revenge, extremism and division from both sides.”
She added that it made her “really sad” that some of these views came from acclaimed Christian circles. Reconciliation may sound “a little bit naive,” she admitted but asserted that “it is the way God wants us to look at it. I think reconciliation is divine. It is the move from a divided path to a shared future.”
Furthermore, Mansour hoped people involved in the troubles would search for “truth, forgiveness, justice and healing.” She felt humility was important to get the full picture of both sides in the conflict: “Even if this perspective challenges our identity and convictions.”
“Healing that is needed starts from honesty with truth,” she added, “moving beyond the known narrative.”
Forgiveness comes next but that is “the hardest part.” Victims of tragedies can acknowledge forgiveness but it is hard to forget what happened. Even so, “it creates room for healing and truth. Forgiveness is not a sign of weakness.”
Justice follows, which restores dignity and Mansour saw that lasting peace required addressing systemic injustice and the root cause of conflict, ensuring a just resolution. She pointed to historic restorative justice enacted after known conflicts in Rwanda, Sierra Leone and South Africa.
The goal is achieving justice but the end result is reconciliation, she said. This is followed by the positive door open to a shared future between two sides after a conflict.
“Reconciliation is essential for a shared future,” she said. “Starting with truth telling and dialogue. Acknowledging wrong and failures, embracing forgiveness, committing to justice and healing – It builds the foundation for reconciliation.”
On a personal note, she said that churches in Israel, Palestine and Lebanon refused to lose hope and asked delegates to help create spaces for forgiveness and advocacy to bring a just solution for all parties involved: “We keep going and pressing for peace, walking in the valley with Jesus.”
Meanwhile Bishop Tchikala talked about the challenges suffered by people with disabilities. He quoted the World Health Organization as saying 15 percent of the global population is disabled.
He called for the church to take a greater lead in addressing injustices faced by this vulnerable demographic. “The church can be influenced by the world, but it’s up to us as a church to influence the world through our model of peace, our model of forgiveness, our model of love, who is Jesus Christ himself.
“But today I'm wondering if we are using Jesus Christ as a model to show the world how to live in peace, love, and forgiveness in the area of disability.”
Tchikala said that in his own country of the DRC, many disabled people live in “inhumane and degrading conditions,” or even killed because of their condition. He questioned the responsibilities in this scenario, of the wider church, citing undisclosed statistics showing that “people with disabilities are not welcome in the church.”
“They are excluded from the gospel and God’s mission,” he added, and suggested churches should instead see the disabled as co-workers. Otherwise, the church has been influenced by a worldly viewpoint seeing disability as “a weakness, even a threat.”
However, from God’s perspective such weaknesses are not a threat, Tchikala made clear, as it says in 2 Corinthians 12:9: “My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Rusyn said the war in Ukraine has had to relook at what compassion means in the context of the invasion by Russia.
“Compassion for me is to suffer in the same way, the same style [sic] as people have. True compassion is impossible. Without information, without presence, true compassion can be revealed through the heart, and we are developing a theology of the heart.”
Rusyn added that he saw Jesus being present in Ukraine because he “always shows up at the epicenter suddenly,” and often through ordinary people, showing true compassion. In Ukraine, he said believers did not pray for peace, but for both justice and peace.
“And I want to underline that peace or reconciliation does not come alone. Peace is married to truth and the middle name of truth is justice.”
Ndikumana said most people in Burundi are Christians but there has been difficulties with the Covid pandemic and ethnic violence. He said forgiveness was hard, and required work, but it is possible to learn from others’ experiences that it is the only way from God, who himself epitomizes justice.
Forgiveness is “the way He chose to heal the wounds of the world,” he said.
