Monday, July 26, 2010

Anti-Slavery Resolution in the News Again

Monday after Pentecost 9
July 26, 2010

The Lord be with you

The following article appeared in Saturday’s Herald-Journal (our local newspaper). I certainly feel good that this issue is continuing to receive attention in our paper.

Group endorses resolution began in Spartanburg

    Delegates to the 64th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod recently endorsed a resolution to support efforts to end human trafficking/slavery, according to a news release.

    The resolution is the "end result of the proposal" that began in a Spartanburg Bible study, according to a local pastor.

    Lamb of God Lutheran Church in Spartanburg sponsored a resolution against human trafficking and slavery that received unanimous approval at an Aug. 2008 meeting of South Carolina pastors and laity in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

    Pastor John Rickert began researching human trafficking and slavery in preparation for a Sunday school class and was shocked by statistics he uncovered, the Herald-Journal reported.

    Rickert wrote the resolution that was approved at the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Southeastern District Circuit 18 Convocation.

    "We were working through the book of Revelation and were at 18:13. That verse lead us to look at the state of slavery in the world today. This lead to the resolution approved by the South Carolina churches, and then the Southeastern District churches, and now finally by the churches of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod," Rickert wrote in an e-mail to the Herald-Journal.

    More than 98 percent of voting delegates at 64th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod supported the resolution, which also "directs the LCMS president to write a letter to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime expressing support for that office's efforts to end trafficking/slave trade. It also directs the LCMS Board for National Mission to provide LCMS pastors and congregations with information about this practice in order to educate them and encourage them to become proactive in their response," according to a news release.
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor John Rickert

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