I was visiting one of the famous sights in a creative access country in Asia, a famous pagoda. Built in 1601, it has seven stories corresponding to...
Heartbeat
The monthly newsletter of Free Methodist World Missions
Freedom Sunday: A New Three Streams Approach
We were created for worship, and when we enter God’s presence with humility, He meets us. Worship renews. It forms us, centers us on Jesus and...
Counting the Cost
I’ve been listening to The Journal of John Wesley. He was chased down, stoned, rejected and condemned. Yet he proclaimed the gospel to all he could....
Realities Girls Face
The story we encountered was difficult. A student named Yanza raised her hand and shared how an older man had solicited her friends for sex in...
Bringing Hope to Cambodia
All of the above is the reasoning behind our Freedom Sunday 2022 projects:
From Orphan to Child of God
Winda was raised an orphan on an island near Haiti. There, in a faith-based orphanage, she was groomed for a life of exploitation. At age 15, Winda was adopted and brought to America, where, despite her hopes for a family, the exploitation continued. When telling her story, Winda recounts how the opportunity to escape aligned perfectly when her wealthy pimp and perpetrators were all inebriated beyond coherence; she took the opportunity and ran, never looking back.
Yvonne’s Story
While at school, her dad’s words of abuse often rang in her ears, and she struggled to focus on learning due to her lack of sleep. Yvonne was an ICCM-sponsored child. She was thankful for the opportunity to go to school and prayed for her sponsors every day, and she knew they were praying for her.
Still Thriving
In 2015 a group of young women came together to form the Thrive Ladies discipleship group. Their original purpose was to encourage one another and carry each other’s burdens. As they grew, their vision also grew. They became advocates for those younger than themselves, providing a safe place for girls to share about their challenges. The Thrive Ladies participated in several training programs to educate and equip themselves to effectively minister to others.
Walls Coming Down
Human trafficking in your community? Most likely. Human trafficking takes many forms.
Josh Avery, a campus pastor and Set Free Movement leader in Canfield, Ohio, didn’t feel he could sit by and do nothing when he saw the injustices happening in his local community. After spending time in prayer and learning about their community, Josh and his Set Free Movement team felt called to move forward in three distinct ways: prevention of human trafficking, mobilization of the community and rescue work.
Following Shiprah and Puah
Before Moses and Aaron, there were Shiphrah and Puah, two midwives who stood up to the most powerful leader in the world at the time (Exodus 1). Pharaoh isn’t named. The author draws the contrast between the powerful and the powerless: a powerful tyrant against the poor oppressed, one elite man against two marginalized women.
Without Shiphrah and Puah, there would have been no Exodus. Moses would have been killed at birth. The Israelites would have continued in slavery. These midwives stood up to power, injustice and slavery. In contrast to Pharaoh, they brought new, miraculous life into the world. They were original abolitionists. They helped create new futures.
