Most people in our church know of Abeni and its outreach to sex industry workers, but if you don't know or you happen to be cruising theology blogs on the internet looking for a ministry to support, please let me recommend to you
Abeni, a local ministry to sex industry workers. Meg, one of our memebers, has been ministering to industry workers and building a ministry for a while now. Its hard to figure out what to write, how to do justice and explain it so I'll let one of our Epic family,
Tony G. speak (or cut & and paste, as the case may be)
from his blog:
"Meg is striving to bring Jesus’ love to a segment of our society with which most of us are unfamiliar. It’s a group with which she can identify. It’s a group that’s hurting and one that needs to be wrapped in the loving arms of the church.
The sex industry employees.
God has called Meg to start a ministry to the sex industry called, Abeni, which in Swahili means, “A girl prayed for.” She gets a little squirmy when the word “ministry” is used. She’d prefer to lose the word altogether. She’s just trying to live out a lifestyle of love and build relationships. Relationships built on trust, commitment, follow-through, availability, and consistency.
Meg is not one to hide her past. Her website (abenionline.org) includes a three-page testimony that at first reads like an episode of A&E’s popular show Intervention. She was drinking by age 7, smoking at 9, and using drugs at 11. The buzz words read like the script for a bad dream: depression, porn, anorexia, bulimia, speed, methamphetamines, physical, verbal, and emotional abuse, beatings, failed rehab, abortions, and attempted suicide. And that’s only page 1."
The sex industry is evil, and the church in the US doesn't seem to address the problem much: it's intense, volatile, and it has "sex" in the name. But neglecting god's children here feels like a giant confession of guilt for our churches (especially the men!) and there is a profound witness to the church about what God really values that Abeni makes. Please head to the
Abeni website and consider supporting the work God is doing there! This won't be the last time to talk about them :)
I'm glad you reposted this. Since you were talking about a feeling in church, I have a feeling too that there's something in Meg that can be transformational for Epic.
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