Fighting the Darkness with Light
By Rev. Sam D’Angelo, CPPS
On May 3rd, representatives of various church communities in the city of Sudbury, Ontario met at the Salvation Army to be informed about the issue of human trafficking and how churches can best respond when they suspect someone is being trafficked. The day began with the testimony of a woman who had been trafficked as a child and the trauma she had undergone just trying to survive. Due to privacy, I will not use her name. She told us that sometimes, church people think that they can’t help others like herself because they’ve never had that kind of traumatic experience as a youth. Nevertheless, she continued by saying that church people have something invaluable they can share with those in a similar situation as her own. “We need people who have only known light, to teach us that the light is present!” That light inside the church people she met helped her to know that she could have that light herself one day. The verse of scripture that really helped her to embrace the change that she wanted in her life was 2 Corinthians 5: 17 “Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten and everything is new.” Now, as a Pentecostal minister herself, she says, “once you have the light inside you, you never go back.”
She counselled us, that it’s not necessary to try to fix someone. Rather, demonstrate how they can respect themselves. Accompany them out of their situation. Show them how to keep safe and secure boundaries in relationships. Having come through her own trauma, when someone asks her what she does today for a living, she replies, “I love people for a living.”
Her testimony has inspired the North East Ministerial Association in Sudbury to come up with an action plan on how to minister to those suspected of being trafficked. Some of the churches will avail themselves of the trauma-based aftercare training offered by the Salvation Army.