Using Your Influence to Fight Human Trafficking
American culture truly celebrates influencers. Everywhere we look, we see and hear messages competing for our attention. Often, the loudest voices, or the ones we hear on repeat, are bought and paid for by big industry. However, as believers, we each have our own sphere of influence, and every single one of us has a certain number of followers, whether we realize it or not. How could you use your influence to stand against human trafficking? Can one citizen really make any difference?
During April, the Anglican Freedom Network (AFN) has been closely examining this question: what difference can one citizen make in the fight against human trafficking?
In the United States, a key feature of democracy is representation. Ideally, elected officials, at all levels of government, act on behalf of citizens. So, it is essential that we seek to elect candidates who share our values and wish to protect vulnerable people. Letters to these officeholders can help clarify what matters most to the very people who elected them. Taking time out of our busy schedules to attend public meetings, where public comment is allowed, can also improve communication with political officeholders who make policy decisions. Citizens can also make their feelings known by creating or signing petitions to show support for new legislation and to request a public vote.
Forming civic organizations that use their resources to amplify community voices ensures public policy reflects the people it governs. These organizations help keep issues alive and give people the support they need to stay engaged. With these groups, resources are pooled, and everyone benefits.
Another way to use your influence to fight human trafficking is to leverage all forms of media to advocate and educate your followers. There are a variety of faith-based organizations creating and sharing content, and by simply engaging with this content, you are providing the creators with support. By sharing their content, you allow many more people to see each post, podcast, article, short video clip, or book review. This kind of content activates people to take small actions that could lead to big changes in the future.
Finally, pray for lawmakers, policy makers, and public officeholders in your city, county, or state. Find their names online and pray for them regularly. They hold a heavy responsibility and need our support.
For our friends joining us from outside the United States, what does being an influencer who is fighting human trafficking look like in your context? Please email me to tell me more.
Join the Anglican Freedom Network for our monthly meetings on the third Monday of each month at 7 pm C.T. via Zoom, where we share prayer requests, resources, and opportunities to help each of us play a small part in making changes that could someday eliminate human trafficking once and for all. To learn more about the New Wineskins Missions Network: Anglican Freedom Network, go to our webpage. Join our Facebook Community.
As a recovering perfectionist with a love for coffee and tea, Anthea Kotlan has dedicated over a decade to serving her Diocese as a women’s ministry leader. Her desire to see women leaders receive training and encouragement led her to join the Women’s Leadership Network team under the Next Generation Leadership Initiative with the ACNA (Anglican Church in North America).
In 2015, her awareness of the problem of human trafficking led to the formation of a group at St. Timothy’s Anglican Church in Spring, Texas. This group met monthly for five years to pray. They also hosted various awareness events and partnered with Houston-area anti-human trafficking organizations to raise funds. Once a year, this group hosted a Prayer Service on Super Bowl Sunday, bringing people from multiple parishes and the local area together to intercede and worship.
Anthea is a proud mother to two incredible adult daughters, wife to a bi-vocational Anglican priest, and grandmother to three wonderful grandchildren. She serves on a church plant team with her husband at All Saints in Conroe, Texas.
