Dear Undiscerning Church: An Open Letter to Anti-Trafficking Ministries

As a reminder, these posts are not published in “real time.”  For my protection, I have delayed this posting and you can assume that it was written based off of a true event that has happened sometime in the past year or so.

Dear Undiscerning Church,

I have a few words for those of you who are involved in anti-trafficking ministries, and, as is my customary practice, I intend to be blunt.

Jesus loves the Church, and I am trying. 

But my frustration level remains high in some areas with regards to how the Church has handled their ministry to the trafficked in their midst.

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I’ve seen it happen over and over again.  All through my life, I watched my traffickers purposely infiltrate churches and HUGE Christian ministries.

Their way in has always been the same, and has always been easy:

Money.

They did this for two reasons.  The first reason was to protect themselves and build an image that would never be shaken by the reports of wayward and misled children.

And the second reason?

It was simply to DESTROY those ministries from the inside out.

And they do not usually go after the small, struggling ministries.  They go after the biggest, most well-respected, most widely recognized ministries, and they endear themselves not to the staff, but to the very founders and heads of those ministries.

What seems obvious to me, is seemingly not even on your radar.

It is extremely dangerous to your ministry, and more importantly…

it is extremely dangerous to those dear, broken ones you serve.

And believe me, I’ve heard it all:

You say you know that there are wolves in sheep’s clothing.

You would also say that you know that your ministry could become infiltrated.

You’ve heard of it happening and you say your guard is up.

But it’s really not.

And you are big now, and you got to this place by the favor of God, because you were humble in your beginnings, and desperate for Him.

But the bigger you get, and the more the passion rises, and the doors open, and the money starts flowing, it becomes hard to see –

hard to discern why the money is flowing in. 

It is easiest to assume it is a blessing from God and blow forward, without stopping and taking the time – as much time as it takes – to get peace for each forward step.

And you have done what every growing ministry that wants to “make it” does.  You have hired that “business minded person” who knows how to run the “business side” of your ministry in order to be most effective for the Lord, right?

Since when is the worldly wisdom of business an asset to ministry?

And they will choose you very intentionally –

because they are business men too,

and you are the rising stars of the attempt to dismantle the source of their outrageous lifestyles.

And today, I see that a certain number of ministries that I love and have come to highly respect are all converging together to do their valiant works of justice – having a conference even, promoting more awareness.

That’s fine, but…my heart is broken all over again.

Because secretly, you are excited because of the economic demographic of the Church that has swung its doors wide open to you.

You know the giving potential of this congregation…

And so you just know it is of God.

So you obviously did. not. bother. to ask Him the question and wait on Him for the answer about this obvious “blessing”…

These doors swung wide open in THIS Christian arena?

Man, God is really blessing your ministry, you say.

What an opportunity!

God is so good!

So you go on….

And I am here to tell you that you are in grave danger.  Because I know that church.

It is the church my traffickers are faithful members of.

And when they see the work you are doing, and they see how genuine your hearts are, and how God is with you, they WILL make their move.

But you will not see it.

You will see the blessing of the money, so you will assume it must be from God.

And you are growing so fast that taking every open financial door as a “yes” from God is easier than sitting long in a place of searching it out with Him…

like you used to in the small beginning.

And you will listen to those smart business development gurus you hired…..

and you will become slave to the biggest donors.

Because what you don’t get is this: Traffickers are wealthy business men – 

who know how to sell themselves to that business guru you hired, so you will become enslaved to them.

And what better way to hide their identity and protect themselves than for them to become fully immersed in the Godly vision of your ministry, and donate the millions that you need for that next big growth step?

No one mentions this little trick when making their presentations on the “Tricks and Traps of Traffickers.”

You, Church, are blind.

You, Christian leader of large, well-respected, very blessed anti-trafficking ministry – you are about to be devoured.

Because you got off your knees and you started seeing the way forward in the dollar signs and wise business practices…. instead of in the still, small voice of the Lord.

And if you walk into their trap, you will watch your ministry implode.

I have watched this happen many times, but I can’t stop this for you.  I cannot risk exposing myself to you because the moment you said “yes” to those lucrative doors swung wide open to you – you immediately became unsafe to me and to every victim you are serving.

Besides – if you will not listen to the Holy Spirit of God Almighty who is perfectly capable of revealing this to you if you would but stop and listen, why would you listen to me?

I was just raised by these wolves.  What do I know?