Engage

Once you have spent time learning about oppression and God's call to justice in the Educate phase, and carefully considered specific needs in your church, your community and in the world in the Explore phase, it is time to begin the Engage phase and develop or discover the unique contribution that your church can make to the work of justice.

» Support the work of justice

» Pray for the work of justice

» Advocate for victims of injustice

Perimeter Church – Atlanta, Georgia

In 1999, after more than 20 years of holding services in the Atlanta area, Perimeter Church members came under the conviction that they weren't spending enough time serving people outside their church walls. As they began to get involved in different evangelistic and mercy ministries, a few people from the church came across the book Good News about Injustice by Gary Haugen. Reading the book challenged them to learn more about God's call to justice. After reading the book, several members participated in IJM's Global Prayer Gathering in Washington, D.C., where they gained a greater awareness of the widespread oppression that exists globally and the Biblical call to respond.

In an effort to educate the rest of the congregation, they invited an IJM speaker to speak at their Sunday services. This visit ignited a passion to dig deeper into issues of injustice. Perimeter launched a class to study Good News About Injustice, and, as a result of this class, many more Perimeter members became IJM Prayer Partners.

At the same time, Perimeter became involved in ministry in Thailand, establishing several partnerships with organizations there. They scheduled a trip to visit IJM's field office in northern Thailand, where they increased their understanding of how IJM operates in the field. This deepened awareness led Perimeter to take steps to help IJM's work in the area. Perimeter introduced IJM to many influential leaders they had developed relationships with through their partnerships in Thailand. These efforts have helped expand IJM's network in Southeast Asia.

As they deepened their involvement with IJM, they also expanded their involvement with other organizations in Thailand. Having already established partnerships with churches in the Bangkok area, they helped educate these churches on the Biblical call to respond to injustice and connected them to Night Light, a ministry in the city that provides help and restoration to girls coming out of the sex trade.

Members of Perimeter church also began learning that sex trafficking was not just a problem in other countries, but that their own community of Atlanta, GA was a hub for trafficking in the U.S. Not knowing exactly how to begin to help combat trafficking in their own city, some of Perimeter's staff visited IJM's headquarters to receive training and resources to help them begin to address the issue of sex trafficking in their own backyard.

Returning to Georgia, Perimeter helped launch UNITE, a coalition of 100 churches in the Atlanta area seeking to make compassion an action with a goal to see city transformation. A primary focus for this group is to seek justice through fighting human trafficking in Atlanta. They have even been working alongside their mayor and local government to prioritize the eradication of sex trafficking in the city.

In order to keep this issue in front of the congregation, Perimeter has created a staff position responsible for making sure each of their ministry partnerships includes a justice strategy. Furthermore, Perimeter trains their mission teams to look for injustice while on their trips, they have included justice in their church-wide education initiatives, and they give financially to IJM on a regular basis. They have discovered that staying committed to justice ministry can be difficult, so Perimeter has been committed to recruiting and training lay leaders who can provide support to the staff and encourage a continued passion for God's heart for justice.

The youth at Perimeter have also become involved. Their passion has led to the launch of Campus Chapters at local colleges and high school clubs. These chapters and clubs work to raise awareness and funds for IJM and local justice issues.