HEARTBEATJUNE 2018

SET FREE MINISTRY INTERNATIONALLY

SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN KENYA

SET FREE MINISTRY IN THE U.S.

SET FREE MINISTRY INTERNATIONALLY

Free Methodist World Missions (FMWM) partners with Set Free to end modern day slavery. As FMWM plants churches and develops leaders around the world, we make disciples with a social consciousness. Worldwide, the Free Methodist Church works on behalf of the poor, the marginalized, the overlooked and especially those who are exploited.

An estimated 40 million people are trapped in slavery around our world today. The online sexual exploitation of children is a billion-dollar industry in the Philippines. Devastating poverty in India drives an estimated 18 million people into slavery. Young Roma girls in Bulgaria are sold into arranged marriages and prostitution.

Our world is broken, but we are not powerless.

Set Free leaders from Madrid to Mumbai to Manila are intervening in exploitation by starting with a Jesus-centered, community-based discipleship approach. Our teams work to foster a culture of spiritual care and character formation where each member of the team earnestly pursues God and holiness, lives out the scriptures obediently, and is formed and informed by the Holy Spirit. In other words, members are called, invited and encouraged to be disciples.

Mission happens within the scope of discipleship. As we are formed by the character of Christ, our actions conform. From this work of discipleship, we can begin to address society’s brokenness to transform people and communities from the inside out: healing relationships, shifting harmful cultural values, and rebuilding dysfunctional systems.

Every Set Free ministry looks different since the work is determined by local leaders who know their context best. Set Free teams in India and the Philippines are teaching children, parents and churches to identify and prevent human trafficking. Ildikó, our team leader in Hungary, is seeking to bring together the abolitionist movement in Budapest to be a united front against slavery. Our team of missionaries and social workers in Taiwan are supporting female migrants who may be at-risk of exploitation. This year, our partners in Bulgaria are opening a prevention home for Roma girls.

By combining discipleship with social action, Set Free teams become a transforming presence in society. Ultimately, our vision is to seek not only justice and holistic freedom, but shalom.

Find out more at setfreemovement.com.

Katie Bergman, Director of Communications and Operations, Set Free Movement

salary for the TWK director, Peter Wangeri, so he could travel to different villages, encourage group members, and train them how to manage the small businesses. In time, Peter’s salary was sustainable from within the livelihood groups profits. Now SEED is supplementing the salary of TWK’s treasurer. In both cases, SEED helps on a decreasing scale while TWK grows and finds sources of sustainable funding.

TWK group participants save money for six months before they are eligible to take out a small loan. As participants pay back their loans, they are eligible to take out bigger loans. In recent months, SEED was honored to send funds to TWK to increase their lending capital in response to the number of people who earned the right to ask for first-time loans or additional larger loans.

Through TWK, this woman has been able to build a house. This man took out a loan to start a taxi motorcycle business, and now he’s made enough money to buy a second motorcycle and grow his business. SEED is honored to help TWK as they bring hope to women and men while advancing the Free Methodist Church in Kenya.

Sustainable Empowering Economic Development (SEED) has been assisting the Free Methodist Church in Africa for more than 10 years. It is not only the name of the organization; it is its mission. As a partner with Free Methodist World Missions, SEED partners with national and local Free Methodist churches as they develop sustainable economic enterprises that make sense in their communities.

The first livelihood group that SEED partnered with in Kenya was a ministry of a married couple in the Karinde Free Methodist Church, reaching out to HIV-affected widows in the Kibera Slum. This livelihood group, Faraja Widows, makes jewelry and bags. The widows use their profits to provide small loans to each other so they can grow their businesses and support their families.

There were also widows within the Karinde Free Methodist Church in need of economic support, so SEED began partnering with Hope Beyond Circumstance. These widows start by learning how to sew small drawstring bags. SEED uses these bags to package jewelry bought at SEED events. As they learn to sew, they work on more difficult products.

The Kenya Free Methodist Church set up a nonprofit organization called Tumaini Women Kenya (TWK) to help churches start livelihood projects. SEED and other groups like Women’s Ministries International help provide funding for this important ministry. In 2014, SEED helped TWK send widows and pastors’ wives to get training from Empowering Lives International. SEED also helped provide the

Rev. Rose Brewer, Director SEED Livelihood Network

SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC

DEVELOPMENT IN KENYA

SEED

Women in state prisons in Kansas face enormous barriers as they re-enter society. They may be overwhelmed with finding work and a home, accessing ID and medication, and establishing a support system. About 60% have a history of being physically or sexually abused. All of these factors help create a vulnerability to abuse and slavery.

Human trafficking is a symptom of the deeper problem of brokenness in relationships, communities and systems. That’s why Rev. Linda Green, a Set Free leader in Wichita, Kansas, works with a team to show God’s love and build intentional Christian community with women exiting incarceration and domestic violence, as well as people who are homeless. Through these relationships, Linda’s

team can meaningfully respond to the hurts and needs of these women to prevent exploitation. Since 2015, Linda’s team has supported about 140 at-risk women and hundreds of families who are homeless and hungry.

Set Free teams across the U.S. are addressing the root causes of human trafficking: poverty, racism, sexism, mental health, broken homes, addictions and more. We invite you to learn more about our teams by visiting setfreemovement.com.

HEARTBEAT JUNE 2018

SET FREE MINISTRY IN THE U.S.

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Vol. 122 No. 6 June 2018

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Katie Bergman, Director of Communications and Operations, Set Free Movement