Cyber-Sex Trafficking, Justice, and the Church
In the West, Christians are more prone to attending a conference on justice, rather than actually doing justice in their cities. Why is that? This week on indoubt we chat with Mark Wollenberg, director of church mobilization for the International Justice Mission in Canada. He first shares with us about what exactly IJM is and does, followed by a discussion on justice and church. We then get into the “new” problem of cyber-sex trafficking – what it is and what we can do to help end it.
Who’s Our Guest?
Mark Wollenberg is the National Director of Church Mobilization for the International Justice Mission in Canada. Having been a church-planter and pastor, Mark now enjoys his work for IJM Canada as well as spending time with his wife and adult children. You can follow Mark on Twitter at @markwollenberg.
Episode Links
Mark Wollenberg works for IJM Canada. Be sure to check out their site!
Here’s a link to the #notonmyscreen campaign Mark was talking about.
Also, here’s the video Mark and I were referring to regarding cyber-sex trafficking. Content may be unsuitable for children.
Mark was kind to give us some recent stats on human trafficking in the world.
Read It
*Below is an edited transcription of the audio conversation.
Introduction
With me today in studio is Mark Wollenberg who is IJM Canada’s National Director of Church Mobilization. IJM, if you didn’t know, is International Justice Mission. It’s been around for quite some time now. But thanks for being with us here today Mark!
Great to be with you Isaac.
So, work aside for a second. We’re going to come back to IJM, but, who are you? Who is Mark?
I was, like a lot of people, born in the prairies. Grew up in the heartland of the country and moved to BC as a teenager.
Right choice, right choice.
You want to move that way! I grew up in Kelowna actually, so I love doing outdoor stuff. Being on the lake in the summer time, skiing in the winter. I played lots of sports – football, basketball, soccer, so very, very much enjoy the outdoors. I don’t play competitive sports right now, I’m just not quite able to get down the floor as fast as I used to. But I enjoy swimming, working at the gym.
My wife and I have five children, and they’re all adults now. So we have time now to go hiking, walking, and just enjoy what living in the lower mainland is offering us.
Yeah, that’s awesome. And grandchildren as well?
One grandchild, yes. Yeah, so we’re kind of in that place of just enjoying what we’ve poured into our children – the things that we’re seeing them do. Celebrating with them in the accomplishments in their lives. How do we support them? is what we’re looking at in the next season of our lives.
That’s good, that’s really good.
Alright, so, IJM. Again, International Justice Mission. I feel like a lot of people, including myself, we just have this vague idea – like we’ve heard of IJM a little bit, in fact, I think it was- the first time I heard about IJM was back in, I was a little bit late hearing about it, it was 2012, and one of my co-workers who I was serving with at Old Spaghetti Factory said that she was in school doing her law so that she could go and work for IJM. So I asked, “What’s IJM?” and she told me about it and explained a little bit.
But anyways, we have this vague idea of what IJM is, “Okay so it’s to do with justice, it’s all around the world,