Here the original letter as PDF-Download
Dear leaders of the European Freedom Network and its Partner Organisations, dear fellows in fighting human trafficking and other evils, dear sisters and brothers,
I greet you all from the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA). I hope you all received our present from WEA, two books from our Global Issues Series, one on “Human Rights,” one on “Human Trafficking.” This is to show that we appreciate that you invest time and energy, prayer, and time to help those to become free who cannot help themselves and, in the main, are forgotten by this world.
I hope you all feel well in your host country Romania. Teaching there several times a year at a state university more than a decade now, I have come to love the country, its people, its churches, and its politicians. You will meet many of those people in power, so bless them, that they might be brave agents of change for the good.
I especially send greetings from our new Secretary General of WEA, Bishop Efraim Tendero from the Philippines, who now represents 600 million Christians in the churches belonging to national and regional Alliances worldwide and who sends his blessings on all your discussions and new plans you might decide on. Bishop Ef just visited the General Secretary of the United Nations, who thanked the Evangelical Alliance for its broad engagement against human trafficking. The world needs us, both our witness to the gospel and our active engagement to change evil into justice and peace.
Dedicated Christians are not born to lie in the sun on the beach and celebrate their freedom in Christ while sleeping or swimming. Instead they are free to serve in the dirtiest places of the world. We hate the persecution of Christians, yet we love the persecutors and try to show them this love directly. We hate prostitution, especially forced prostitution, but we only can help those involved by being where they are and showing them the love of Christ through direct contaact. We hate sexual chaos, but the chance that you meet a dedicated Christian at the death bed of someone dying of AIDS is very high. We fight alcoholism and drug addiction, but not by writing against those involved from a desk far away, but by being with them and inviting them to our homes, churches and clinics.
Christians have to walk in the mud to help those walking in the mud. If you do not want your shoes or feet to get dirty, BRIDGE 2015 is the wrong conference to attend!
Those who are well, or think themselves to be well, do not need a doctor, as Jesus said. Jesus himself as the foremost doctor of the human soul and body, decided to go to the deepest places of earth, yes, even down to hell, to save us. We also are called by him and like him to follow people into their deeptest distress.
I want to thank you all, that you are investing so much time and energy into fighting for the slaves of all kinds today, into building up networks and into trying to convince the big mass of Christians still sleeping.
May the Lord give each of you the wisdom of His Holy Spirit to discuss how you (and we) can cooperate more, so that your programs reach out both to future young leaders in fighting for freedom, and to those who are not free yet. And this is all for the glory of the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
Thomas Schirrmacher
Leave a Reply