A Practical Theological Response To Human Trafficking In South Africa: A Salvation Army Perspective

Abstract

This study seeks to discover how Christians should respond to the ever-growing internationalcrime of human trafficking. The reason for the research rests on two pillars: one being personal conviction and the other a professional concern for deep research, through a Salvation Army lens,into how the Church can be instrumental in reducing human trafficking around the world.The main question of the study is as follows: How should The Salvation Army respond to the crime of human trafficking in the South African context? The sub-questions enquire into the nature of human trafficking in South Africa, what the Bible says about challenging and responding to injustice, how the Church has responded to slavery in history and howspecificallyThe Salvation Army should respond to humantrafficking in the present day. Utilising the Loyola Institute of Ministry research design, this worklooks at what is known about historical slavery and present-day human trafficking in South Africa as the current situation. It glances briefly at the well-known case of Sara Baartman as an early example of human trafficking. Still looking into the current situation,qualitative narrative research is used to tellthe stories of five women (one a very young girl) who were trafficked in different ways and for different reasons. Their stories are arranged under specific headings toexplain how they were trafficked, how they met The Salvation Army, and how their situations evolved.Searching for the situation as it should be, this study presents aBiblical enquiry into the mission statement of Jesus as pronounced in Luke 4:16-21and asks the question of whether the mission of the Church is the same as the mission of Jesus. In a quest to build a bridge between the current situation and the situation as it should be, the study plots a way forward by means of a proposed Christian model of response to human trafficking, including the requirements for a response and key areas of a response. The result is a workable, practical and realistic way for the Church as a whole, and for individual congregations to have a positive impact as part of a modern abolition movement.