"Justice is long and boring."
That's what Mike (I can't remember his last name) said, talking about the work of International Justice Mission.
Among other things, IJM hires lawyers to fight for slaves all over the world. It takes years to get victories and to change public policy, but they keep going.
It's hard to believe there are more slaves now worldwide than there were at the height of the American slave trade. We hear a lot about sex trafficking, but slaves make shoes, bricks, coffee, chocolate, clothes, you name it.
It's easy to think there's nothing that can be done. The systems are entrenched, and even companies that try to do the right thing find that their supply chains are problematic. The work of setting the oppressed free isn't as simple as it seems.
But the abolitionists didn't have an easy job, either. They still did their work because it was right.
Slavery is both an embarrassing time in Christian history and a proud one. People were enslaved because they were considered heathens, but their freedom was also a cause of other Christians, those who took the words of Jesus seriously when he said he came to release captives and set prisoners free. They didn't think that was just spiritual language.
IJM is an unabashedly Christian organization — so much so that they shut down for prayer every workday — and their work is respected outside the faith community.
I signed up on their Freedom Commons website to get updates on how to take action.
I also signed the petition to encourage Congress to enact the End Modern Slavery Initiative Act, which you can do from the link above without signing up, if you prefer.
If you're looking for an organization that fights slavery that isn't specifically faith-based (or you just want to partner with more than one organization), check out Walk Free.
For a bit of inspiration, here's a lovely cover of "Break Every Chain" by Sarah Reeves. Just a warning, I'll probably use this song again when I write about mass incarceration. (Yes, that's coming, too.)