Days 1 and 2

If you have read this post, you know that I am promoting 24 different charities and non-profits between December 1 and Christmas Eve in order to encourage you to donate money instead of giving a lot of gifts this Holiday Season. I have to play a little catch-up today because I've been promoting them on my Facebook, but I haven't posted about them here yet, so here we go.

Day 1: Gospel for Asia

Gospel for Asia is by far the closest organization to Adam's and my heart. The mission of K.P. Yohannan, the founder of GFA, was singularly the strongest influence in our lifestyle decisions before and after we married. If you want your world to change, read Revolution in World Missions by K.P. Yohannan. (Found at the GFA Bookstore on their website).

Their Mission: From their website, "Our mission in life is to be devout followers of Christ and to fulfill the Great Commission among the unreached in Asia through training, sending out and assisting qualified laborers in partnership with the Body of Christ." GFA has Bible colleges that train native missionaries to teach their own people about the Gospel of Christ, which they can do for between $180-210 a month, as opposed to the $50,000 a year it costs to send a Westerner into the same regions.

They also provide valuable resources to the people in those areas, such as animals for food and profit, bicycles for the native missionaries, and church buildings, among other necessities. They can also build "Jesus Wells," which provide fresh water to the impoverished who are many times extorted by their leadership before they can have access to safe drinking water. 

What you can do: DONATE! You can give a specific amount to buy chickens, goats, Bibles, winter clothes, blankets and many other necessities to missionaries and the people they are reaching. You can also choose to sponsor a missionary for $30 a month, or just give any amount to their "Where Most Needed" option. They have made all of this extremely easy by creating a Christmas Catalog for you convenience.

Day 2: International Justice Mission

Their Mission: From their website: "International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that brings rescue to victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local officials to secure immediate victim rescue and aftercare, to prosecute perpetrators and to ensure that public justice systems - police, courts and laws - effectively protect the poor." 

"More children, women and men are held in slavery right now than over the course of the entire trans-Atlantic slave trade: Millions toil in bondage, their work and even their bodies the property of an owner.
Trafficking in humans generates profits in excess of 32 billion dollars a year for those who, by force and deception, sell human lives into slavery and sexual bondage. Nearly 2 million children are exploited in the commercial sex industry. The AIDS pandemic continues to rage, and the oppression of trafficking victims in the global sex trade contributes to the disease's spread.In many countries around the world, pedophiles find that they can abuse children with impunity." 

What you can do: Donate, Volunteer, Campaign, etc. There are many, many ways you can get involved in this effort to end slavery world-wide. Human trafficking is despicable, and I pray that we can be a generation that is known for fighting it, and fighting it hard.