freeing the oppressed

A few weeks ago I was explaining the trafficking issues to an older, missionary gentleman and he looked at me blankly and said, "Must be a generational thing." Huh.

This isn't generational. It's a 9 billion dollar annual industry (in the U.S. alone). Modern-day slavery involves 20 to 30 million people worldwide. It's not a generational thing.

Here's what I think: Catholics have the social justice thing down. Evangelicals have the evangelism thing down. But when Jesus quoted Isaiah 61 he didn't stop at "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor." He continued, "He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD."

So, yes, trafficking victims need to hear the gospel, and I believe that Jesus is the only one who can ultimately set them free and heal them. But the message will not have much of an impact if we do not address their oppression, their basic needs, their distress.

This is not a generational thing. It's a misunderstanding of a proper balance between evangelism and social justice. You can't have one without the other. It's like a plane with two wings; it can't fly with just one of them. This applies to ministry in general, I believe. A mother will not pay much attention to your words if she doesn't know how she's going to feed her child its next meal. Jesus met physical and spiritual needs. We need to do both as well.