Modern Day Slavery

Sadly, slavery is alive and well in our fallen world. Last night, we attended the annual fund raising dinner for Jubilee Campaign, a non-profit organization focused on helping persecuted Christians and children at risk around the world. During the dinner, we heard from speakers who drew attention to the ongoing atrocity of modern day slavery - much of it affecting children and young women.


Here are some facts about slavery, more commonly referred to as human trafficking (Research: Four Square Church) -

• An estimated 27 million people are held in slavery worldwide, meaning there are more slaves in the world than were taken from Africa during 300 years of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
• Annually between 700,000 and 4 million people are bought and sold as prostitutes, sex slaves, domestic workers, child laborers and child soldiers. This includes children as young as 4.
• Each year, more than 1 million children are exploited in the global commercial sex trade.
• In India, 45,000 children go missing every year
• The U.S Department of State estimates that by 2010, human trafficking will be the #1 crime worldwide.

This atrocity is a stark expression of what humanity looks like, separated from God. Better education doesn't solve this, nor will money alone make this go away. We desperately need a Savior.

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Titus 3:3-6

What's required is the gospel, actively preached and lived in the darkest recesses of this world. Jubilee Campaign is waging war against the tide of wickedness by shining the light of the gospel into the darkness of slavery. Together with in-country partners, they rescue children from brothels, care for orphans and share the love of Christ in practical ways.

I'm grateful for their work and glad to support them.

Perseverance in the Life of William Wilberforce

William Wilberforce labored for the cause of social justice for 46 years, often against significant opposition. There was public pressure arising from the national interests at stake. John Piper explains this in Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce –

"It seemed utterly unthinkable to Parliament that Britain could prosper without what the plantations of the West Indies provided. If one nation, like Britain unilaterally abolished the slave trade and others did not, it would mean…that power and wealth would be transmitted to other nations and Britain would be weakened internationally."

Wilberforce's public image suffered greatly when he spoke out against Queen Caroline’s marital unfaithfulness. There were also accusations that he cared more for the slaves than for the poor of England. Sadly, he also experienced the death of his daughter.

Yet, he persevered. Piper tells us that his opponents took note of his endurance.

“His adversaries complained that Wilberforce ‘jumped up whenever they knocked him down.’ One of them in particular put it like this: ‘It is necessary to watch him as he is blessed with…that Enthusiastic spirit, which is so far from yielding that it grows more vigorous from blows.’"

What was the secret of his perseverance? According to Piper, it was more than simply the encouragement of good friends, though Wilberforce had many. His remarkable perseverance in the midst of challenging work is rooted in an unquenchable joy in God.

“There is a deeper root of Wilberforce’s endurance than camaraderie. It is the root of childlike, child-loving, self-forgetting joy in Christ.”

Piper conveys this in Wilberforce’s own words -

"We can scarcely indeed look into any part of the sacred volume without meeting abundant proofs, that it is a religion of Affections that God particularly requires…Joy is enjoined to us as our bounden duty and commended to us as our acceptable worship…A cold…unfeeling heart is represented as highly criminal."

Piper concludes with this thought -

"When we say that Wilberforce’s joy was unshakeable and undefeatable…we mean that he had learned the secret of “the good fight”, and that his embattled joy reasserted itself in and after every tumult in society and in the soul."

How do you respond when the “chips are down”?
Do you persevere in such a way that your spirit “grows more vigorous from blows”?
How can we capture the kind of joyful perseverance that characterized Wilberforce and apply that in our lives?

Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce

William Wilberforce (1759 - 1833) was a British politician with uncompromising Christian faith. He made his mark in history as a social justice crusader against slavery. This year, there is particular renewed interest in Wilberforce because March 25, 2007 marks the 200th anniversary of the Slave Trade Act which banned slave trading in the British Empire.

Amazing Grace, the upcoming movie about Wilberforce doesn't hurt the public interest meter either.


Ahead of the movie, I'm currently reading through John Piper's biography of William Wilberforce entitled Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce. I've been intrigued by Wilberforce ever since reading about him in another Piper book called Roots of Endurance a few years ago. Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce isn't a long book (6 chapters, 80 pages) but it fleshes out a little more detail about Wilberforce's life and work.

What stands out to me, even in the first few chapters of the book, is the wonderful way God intervened in Wilberforce's life and directed him to his life's work. Note Wilberforce's own words in describing his early days in Parliament as an unbeliever.

"The first years I was in Parliament I did nothing - nothing to any purpose. My own distinction was my darling object."

Many of us waste opportunities and years seeking our own distinction. In the case of Wilberforce, this occurred before conversion but this can also be true of converted hearts as well. Yet, as with Wilberforce, God is patient in dealing with us. He helps us see the folly of building our own towers of achievement and gently leads us to give our lives to something bigger than ourselves.

Some years later, at the age of 25, Wilberforce experienced true spiritual conversion. He was so dramatically affected that he considered leaving his political career to pursue pastoral ministry. He was advised by his friend John Newton, Anglican clergyman and writer of the popular hymn Amazing Grace, to remain in Parliament. Here's what Newton wrote to Wilberforce.

"It is hoped and believed that the Lord has raised you up for the good of His church and for the good of the nation"

Upon heeding this good advice, Wilberforce turned his attention to the cause of social justice, specifically the abolition of slave trading. He was no longer purposeless but rather as he wrote in his diary, he had two great objectives.

"God Almighty has placed before me two Great Objects, the Suppression of the Slave Trade and the Reformation of Manners [morals]"

Just a couple of points about this.

First, thank God for wise counsel from friends. We need the kind of friends who can come alongside to help us figure out the hard questions of our lives. Little did he know at the time, but John Newton's encouragement to Wilberforce literally shaped the course of history.

Second, it is noteworthy that Wilberforce's zeal for God led him to initially consider abandoning his political career to pursue ministry. It speaks to the gravity of his newfound faith upon his life. However, it also betrays Wilberforce's initial view of vocational ministry as superior to his life's work in the politics. Unfortunately, I suspect it's a common problem even today. Many view vocational ministry as the inevitable calling for the spiritually mature. I'm certain most of us know better than to subscribe to this view. But I wonder if we aren't functionally hindered by this kind of thinking, in part because we have no picture of what spiritual maturity in our daily work looks like. As Christians working in business, academia, public life or maybe at home, let's help each other connect the dots between the faith we hold so dear and the daily work we're involved with.

Here are a couple of questions to chew on -

Even if you're not planning to change the course of history, do you view your work as noble service to God?
How do you connect the dots between your faith and your daily work? What do you find challenging in doing so?