Nazarene congregations around the world are invited to participate February 22 in Freedom Sunday, a day set aside for the church to stand united against modern slavery, also known as human trafficking.

There are more people living in bondage today than at any other time in history — children, women, and men who have been forced into prostitution or labor through human trafficking. The U.S. Department of State estimates as many as 27 million individuals are victims of trafficking. It is a problem that reaches into communities in almost every country in the world.

This is the second year that the Church of the Nazarene will join other denominations within the Wesleyan Holiness Consortium in observation of Freedom Sunday. In 2014, the Church of the Nazarene's Board of General Superintendents endorsed the Wesleyan Holiness Consortium's Declaration for Freedom, a document that Nazarene leaders helped draft.

Freedom Sunday is a day to unite with thousands of other churches; participate through prayer, raise awareness, and give surrounding the problem of human trafficking; and celebrate what God is doing to set the captives free. The first Sunday of Lent was chosen to focus on the fast spoken of in Isaiah 58:6: "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?" (NRSV).

Churches can sign up and download free resources, including a bulletin, at ncm.org/freedomsunday.

The Church of the Nazarene is present in many countries where people are vulnerable to trafficking. The church, through Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, partners with local congregations in anti-trafficking efforts that range from prevention and education to protection and rehabilitation. On Freedom Sunday, the church is taking a Freedom Offering, which will support the NCM Global Anti-Trafficking Fund, scholarships for trafficking survivors, preventing trafficking of children, and church-based prevention programs. To learn more, visit ncm.org/freedomsunday.
--Nazarene Compassionate Ministries