|
||
| Back to Projects Page | ||
|
ADULTS SAVING KIDS |
||
|
Challenging NC Women of the ELCA to Save
Our Kids In our world today the exploitation of our children may take many forms – internet predators, child and internet pornography, media messages, prostitution, stripping. Many young people are having their lives detoured from the productive plan God has for them. Adults Saving Kids, a non-profit, faith-based organization founded by an ELCA pastor with a mission to prevent sexual exploitation of our youth, believes that every community should be a safe haven for young people. Adults Saving Kids encourages churches, schools, parents, and community groups to encourage, support, protect and equip our young people. This is done in three ways Prayer, Awareness, and Education. The Women of the ELCA here in North Carolina and in seven other synods have formed a partnership with Adults Saving Kids to do this important work.
The goal of Adults Saving Kids is to “rebuild the wall of safety”
around our young people. The
very foundation of that wall is prayer – Prayer Project Lifesaver
encourages every congregation to pray individually for the children,
from cradle to college, praying daily that these young people would grow
in Jesus Christ, having safe, healthy lives.
Let the Adults Saving Kids team know if you need help getting things
organized and let them know when you have implemented a Prayer Project
reporting how many young people your congregation is praying for.
Our Synod’s goal is to have 10,000 North Carolina kids prayed
for by name every day over the next five years.
At the NC Synodical Women’s Gathering in June at Lenoir Rhyne
the Adults Saving Kids
display will have a map recognizing the congregations that have begun a
Prayer Project. We
challenge each of you to “be on the map”. Another
layer of that wall of safety is Awareness.
Adults Saving Kids
has a Speakers Bureau. This
is a group a trained people who will speak to congregations, community
groups, and schools about the issues of sexual exploitation and the
prevention message. Another
Adults Saving Kids training
will be held soon. Let the
coordinators know if you would like to receive this training. The third layer of bricks on our “wall of
safety” is education. The
Wise as Serpents curriculum provides an opportunity for pastors,
teachers, and youth leaders to prepare young people for the world they
face.
The NC Women
of the ELCA Pennies Project this year will be going to Adults Saving Kids. We
are calling the campaign “Koins for Kids”. There is a Koins for Kids
label in an earlier President’s Mail and you can download labels from
the NC Women of the ELCA website www.ncwelca.org. Bring the
proceeds from your Koins for Kids campaign to the Spring Conference
Gathering.
Join
us at the Annual Gathering in June where we are going to physically
build a “Wall of Safety” brick by brick.
Together we can build this “wall of safety” for our young people. They need a community where they know they are valued, where they are prayed for, and where they are equipped for life. |
||
|
When Heidi Somerset (not her maiden name) came to
St. Thomas, Minnesota, two decades ago, she brought impressive
credentials: Nearly
straight A’s, honor society recognition, extracurricular activities,
church involvement, a stable family. She was also a virgin. Within two
years, while still a coed, she was arrested for prostitution and
grounded by school officials. Heidi’s descent into prostitution began
with date-rape while in St. Thomas. Then, she got into partying and
drinking and met a sweet talker who later became her domineering pimp
and eventual husband. She was from a non-metropolitan city where people
were trusting. She was naïve. Her stolid father wasn’t given to
emotion, while her mother was a controlling person. Away from home,
freedom and new adulthood contributed to her undoing. Now 37, and out of prostitution for eight years, Heidi tells her story publicly as part of a Lutheran-sponsored awareness program for churches and junior high students. Heidi works for ASK- Adults Saving Kids ASK is headed by a Lutheran minister, the Rev. Al Erickson, who’s been fighting prostitution for at least a decade. The message is simple: More than the law is needed to keep vulnerable girls from being snared, as Heidi was, into prostitution and self-destructive lives. Rev. Erickson’s ASK program, whose materials have been bought by 155 churches, makes youths more aware of dangers in contemporary society. The purpose isn’t to create fear, but empowerment. The materials provide for six one-hour sessions for seventh- to ninth-graders, featuring Heidi and a former pimp who’s now a north Minneapolis minister. The program is called “Wise as Serpents – a Christian resource to develop street-smart youth.” The title comes from the Bible, a passage in Matthew: “Behold, I (Jesus) send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” ASK lists 30 ways youth can be vulnerable- from low self-worth, family dysfunction and past sexual abuse to a desire for independence from parents and rules, a tendency to experiment or take risks, unawareness of mind-control techniques and inexperience with life. Heidi and Rev. Erickson dispute some viewpoints that prostitution is a lifestyle that women have the right to choose. Prostitutes are really victims. When parents doubt or deny a problem exists in their communities or for their children, they really should be asking why their community, their church, their school isn’t doing more to prevent stories like Heidi’s. “Wise as Serpents” can help. More information can also be found at the website: www.adultssavingkids.org. |
