Don't Contribute to Child Slavery

I know this blog is about Children's Ministry, but after doing some research on Children's

MInistry around the world, my eyes were opened to the horror of child slavery. In many places around the world children as young as five years old are forced into dangerous and difficult labor as slaves. I'm confident you all are as horrified by this as I am.

But, are you horrified enough to actually do anything about it? True, there may not be much we can do to physically stop the selling and abuse of children by making them slaves, but we can choose to not purchase things which are a result of child slavery. 

In my research I learned there are so many children in slavery who are forced to work on cocoa farms in Africa and 70% of the cocoa used in this world is from Africa. I love chocolate, but I hate child slavery, so I will no longer buy chocolate which is a result of child slavery. And just so you know, coffee, tea and vanilla are also crops where children are forced to work long and hard as slaves; children as young as five years old.

I asked my six year old grandson if he knew what slavery was. He said he did. I asked him if he thought it was a good thing; he said it was not. I asked him if he thought people wanted to be slaves. He said he thought they did not. I asked him if he thought older people, grandpas and grandmas were slaves in some places around the world. He said maybe. I asked him if he thought people the ages of his parents might be slaves in some places around the world. He said probably. I asked him if he thought children who were five, six, seven or even ten, eleven or twelve were slaves in some places around the world. He said he was sure they were not. I told him there were places where children were slaves and he was shocked.

We all need to be shocked by this, but not just stay shocked. We need to act. We need to educate ourselves so we no longer purchase things which are a result of child slavery. This is difficult, but it is something we must do. It is something I am doing. 

I am also praying for these children and for God to do something amazing and to open the eyes of people who are harming children by making them be slaves. I'm asking God to do a miracle and to move in people's hearts to end child slavery. 

Please join me in using our dollars to speak and in speaking with our God who is far bigger than we think He is and Who is able to do ever so much more than we can even begin to imagine!