{"id":740,"date":"2018-09-20T22:22:02","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T22:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.presbyterianmission.org\/weekly-offerings\/?p=740"},"modified":"2018-09-20T22:22:02","modified_gmt":"2018-09-20T22:22:02","slug":"peace-global-witness-ending-the-practice-of-child-soldiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/weekly-offerings\/2018\/09\/20\/peace-global-witness-ending-the-practice-of-child-soldiers\/","title":{"rendered":"Peace & Global Witness: Ending the Practice of Child Soldiers"},"content":{"rendered":"

I Want to Tell You a Story…<\/h4>\n
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Princeton (center) with his family<\/p><\/div>\n

I wish it was just<\/em> a story, but what I am about to share with you is sadly true. It is about a boy named Princeton\u2014a happy, carefree, 13-year-old boy. Happy, that is, until the day he was snatched by soldiers and taken to a military training camp. Two weeks later, he was carrying a gun as a soldier in Nigeria\u2019s civil war. Can you even picture such a thing happening to a child that you know?<\/p>\n

\u201cI was going to fetch water for my mom when they grabbed me, and I didn\u2019t see my family again for two and a half years,\u201d he says. I wish this was only Princeton\u2019s story, but the reality is that children are forced to become soldiers every day in war-torn places around the world.<\/p>\n

One hot, sunny afternoon, Princeton\u2019s unit came under heavy fire, and an unexploded rocket landed nearby. While he was attempting to defuse it, the rocket denotated. Princeton endured six surgeries without anesthesia over the next year and a half. Finally, at age 17\u2013several long and terrible years later\u2014he came home to his mother\u2019s arms.<\/p>\n

His wartime experience wounded more than his body; it left him angry and rebellious. However, the peace of Christ worked in his life as he confessed his Christian faith for the first time. \u201cMy mom said God changed a heart of stone to a heart of flesh,\u201d Princeton says. Eventually, Princeton came to the U.S., and today he is pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Midlothian, Texas. He serves the whole church through national initiatives of Intercultural Ministries.<\/p>\n

Princeton speaks from the heart when he says using child soldiers is \u201can evil that we need to exterminate, and we need to call attention to any system that supports this evil.\u201d Thanks to your gifts to the Peace & Global Witness Offering, we are doing just that.<\/p>\n

Red Hand Campaign<\/h4>\n
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Red hands are the symbol of the global campaign against the use of child soldiers.<\/p><\/div>\n

Your participation in the Offering supports the Red Hand Campaign. Presbyterians across the country send prints or paper cutouts of red hands, along with an accompanying note to the Presbyterian Ministry at the UN. The hands and a cover letter are then sent to countries that have yet to sign a UN protocol that forbids the use of child soldiers. Using a human-rights-based approach, we engage in anti-trafficking work related to forced labor and sex trafficking, in addition to our work to end the forced conscription of child soldiers.<\/p>\n

Peace is active, not passive; peace is doing, not waiting. As we work to share Christ\u2019s peace with one another, let\u2019s share that peace with those beyond our doors. Twenty-five percent of the Peace & Global Witness Offering stays with your congregation to support peacemaking and reconciliation in your own community. Another 25 percent will support these ministries at the mid council level, and the remaining 50 percent supports peacemaking and reconciliation ministries of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) such as the Red Hand Campaign. Your gifts will help more people experience the freedom and dignity that Christ wants for everyone. Please think about Princeton, and so many others like him, and give generously. Let us offer the peace of Christ in all times and all ways.<\/p>\n

Let Us Pray<\/h4>\n

Liberating God, we pray today for people around the world who yearn for freedom. Help us to be instruments of your deliverance in the struggle against human trafficking. May we bear witness to the full and free life that you want for all people. Amen<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Join Us<\/h4>\n

For more information and resources related to the Pentecost offering, visit\u00a0presbyterianmission.org\/peace-global.<\/a>
\n<\/span> <\/u> This post is based on the Minute for Mission script which can be found on our\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0as a\u00a0script<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Please give generously to the Offering:<\/p>\n