• Finish It!

    Finish It is an anti-slavery campaign started by the Free Methodist Church and Austin New Church in partnership with Not For Sale.  So, before we get to the matter at hand, lets travel back in time and ask, “why the Free Methodists?”  The year was 1860 and slavery was not only part of the American way, it was accepted in the church.  However, a pastor by the name of B.T. Roberts, had a real problem with this.  In fact, he did not understand how one could claim to be a follower of Christ, the one who came to set the captives free, yet at the same time, hold captives.  At this time, Roberts’ idea of anti-slavery, was revolutionary, and to many it was rebellious.  Roberts’ conviction that slavery was a sin, was stronger than his denominational ties, so Roberts, with a few others began a new denomination and called it the Free Methodist Church.  The word ‘free’ had three purposes:

    1. They believed that it was not our place to create worship services of strict formality, but rather that when the church gathered it was to be a place in which the Holy Spirit was FREE to move.
    2. In those days church pews were rented and sold.  The best seat in the house went to the family willing to pay the most.  Roberts saw a direct contradiction in this and the way of Christ, so this new church made it so that all the pews were FREE to all, and would not be sold or rented.
    3. As we stated earlier, Roberts believed, as scripture says, that Christ came to set the captives free.  If this was true, how could we claim to be followers of Christ, while owning slaves.  So, the third meaning for the word “FREE” was in the reality that the Free Methodist church would be an anti-slavery church not by verbal affirmation alone, but by helping lead the underground railroad movement to FREE slaves.

    So, what does Austin New Church have to do with this?  ANC is a two-year old church plant, that was built around the idea and belief that the gospel was much more than a verbal systematic presentation, but it is a life lived out to the world.  In fact, Austin New Church is so committed to being a voice of restoration and reconciliation that their first year in existence they gave over half of their money to the poor.  In their second year of existence they started the process of adopting five African orphans and many more local children in need of a home.  For Austin New Church, this is not just a good idea, this is the way the church is to live.  In fact the second point in our vision statement is:

    We see a church that cares passionately for the oppressed, the abandoned, the helpless, and those in spiritual, relational, and physical need.  We believe it is the Church’s responsibility to lead this movement in both our community and throughout the world.

    Point being, it only makes sense, that Austin New Church is expanding their reach to the enslaved people of our world!

    The truth is, we have a very disturbing reality facing us today.  Even though the 13th Amendment became a reality in 1865, we still have over 27 million slaves on earth today.   The truth is from your city, my city, to the Ukraine, Thailand, Mexico, and beyond young girls raised in poverty are deceived by promises of jobs to leave their families and then captured, raped and forced into prostitution. Children are sold voluntarily by their parents.  Some children in places like India work all day as slaves in quarries.  In the Ukraine we are seeing young boys kidnapped and forced to work 20-hour days fishing in the black sea, only to be shot and thrown over board at the end of fishing season.  This is our reality, slavery has NOT been abolished!  Due to the roots of the Free Methodist church, it only makes sense that they would take up the mantle of their founders and re-engage the fight against slavery, with the battle cry, “FINISH IT!”  In other words, we will not stop fighting until slavery has been abolished!

    So, how is this going to happen?  Austin New Church and The Free Methodist church realizes that this fight is too big for one person, one church and one denomination.  They realize that there is power in numbers.  So, we have teamed up with the Not For Sale Campaign to engage in the fight against slavery and break the chains of oppression that cages over 27 million people.

    So, the “Finish It” campaign is going to consist of several very specific steps, that will begin with awareness/education and the launching of a specific tangible project that many can be involved and invested in.  The steps are below.

    1. Prayer – pray for direction in our involvement; pray for open doors and favor; pray for ways we can specifically be involved in this fight; but most of all pray for the victims, that God would burden the hearts of men and women all over the world to pour their lives out for those who are oppressed.
    2. Research – Whether you are a church or an individual, you can expand your knowledge on this issue.  There are three books we highly recommend: Not For Sale; Sex Trafficking, and Disposable People
    3. Exploration – in all of our research it seems that most roads in slavery lead to or through Turkey and Thailand. Being that Thailand has a lot of work already happening there (and they need more), we are going to engage on a new front, Turkey.  So, the first two weeks of November we are sending Matthew and Sarah Hansen to three major cities in Turkey to do some exploratory work to get a feel for some specific work we can begin in Turkey.
    4. Biblical Study – If you click HERE, you will be taken to a page that has a down-loadable version of the Not For Sale Bible Study.  We would recommend two options: (1) If you are a small group or Sunday school leader, that you take your group through the 8-week study, 8 weeks leading up to Freedom Sunday or use Freedom Sunday to spring board into the 8 week study. (2) If you are not in a group, then take it upon yourself to start your own special-interest group or go through the study on your own.
    5. Freedom Sunday – Sign up to be part of Freedom Sunday on March 11th, 2011.  Our hope is to have thousands upon thousands of churches from every denomination across the free world to participate in this.  If you have not signed up yet, sign up HERE.
    6. Launch – On Freedom Sunday, all those partnering with the Free Methodist Denomination, or just relationally partnering with other churches associated with the Free Methodist will be part of launching a single effort attack on modern slavery…details to come

    So, when it comes to fighting slavery, let’s FINISH IT!