The Presbytery of San Fernando
California
Panelists at Silverlake Community Church inspire women to action against sex trafficking.
Women from Los Angeles churches have formed a group called WOGA: LA, a chapter of Women of Global Action, to raise awareness and take action on justice issues impacting women globally. During 2007, WOGA: LA hosted women leaders from Kenya and Egypt who shared how they address issues ranging from AIDS and inheritance laws to concerns faced by women in Arab nations.
In July 2007, ninety women gathered to learn about sex trafficking from Christians working to combat the problem in Los Angeles and globally. One panelist works with the FBI to trace perpetrators, while another has an online market for goods created by rescued victims. Another trains women rescued from the red-light district in Bangkok to make jewelry.
One outcome was a partnership formed with a group that walks the streets of Los Angeles weekly, praying and talking to business owners and trafficking victims. Said one woman of this outreach, “I spent an hour walking into the problem instead of driving around it. I experienced a sense of purity in purpose that I hadn’t before.” In August 2008, members of WOGA: LA traveled to Ethiopia where partners trained at-risk women in microenterprise. New groups gathering women around global justice issues that impact them have formed in Texas and Florida.
At the next event, WOGA’s Central Africa director from Burundi will share how genocide, AIDS, and poverty affect African women and how God is at work to bring healing and hope. Please visit their blog for more information.
The Presbytery of San Fernando has 8,069 members, 30 churches, and 1 new church development.
Presbytery Staff
Elder Gerald North, executive presbyter
The Rev. Gary Dart, stated clerk
Wendy Gist, mission advocate for hunger, poverty and peacemaking
Pat Johanson, business administrator
Casey Maddren, secretary
Marguerite Minor, bookkeeper
PC(USA) General Assembly Staff
Sharon Tamas, GAMC
The Rev. Mark Tammen, OGA
Darlene Taylor, GAMC
Dear Lord, please draw together many women across our nation who will be moved to act on behalf of those suffering great injustice. Unite us with our sisters in other nations whose love for you is made known daily through lives devoted to bringing hope and healing. Amen.
Ps. 122, 149 Ps. 100, 63
Neh. 7:73b–8:3, 5–18
Rev. 22:14–21; Matt. 18:21–35
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