Redeemed for Redemption: Why and How Christians Should Respond to Modern Slavery

The latest issue of Affinity’s Social Issues Bulletin is out now. It is free to download, as are all previous editions. This one contains an article by Dai Hankey, who looks at the biblical teaching on redemption and how it should motivate us to care for those in need of release from the contemporary curse of modern slavery…

Tim was orphaned at the age of 8 and left to fend for himself on the brutal streets of his city in Vietnam. At the age of 12 a ‘friendly’ man offered him the opportunity to escape and start a new life. He jumped at the opportunity. When the man came to pick him up in his van Tim had absolutely no idea of the horrors that lay ahead. Trafficked across land borders, often on foot, forced to sleep in exposed woodlands and abandoned buildings he was passed from one gang to another until eventually he arrived in the UK. Aged just 15, Tim was taken to an ordinary-looking house in a residential area of an English city where he was put to work as a ‘gardener’.

His crop? Cannabis.

The only time he ever left the house was when his captors took him to grow cannabis in a different house. If there was a problem with his crop, he was beaten. If he tried to escape, he was tortured. He was forced to sleep in such cramped conditions that he developed debilitating neck pain that still afflicts him today.

He eventually escaped and is now free, though he still bears the literal scars. How do I know? Because, by the grace of God, Tim is my friend and my brother. I have seen the scars and the tears. Yet I have also marvelled at his resolve and rejoiced in his redemption.

Tragically, Tim’s story is far too common. Indeed, it is estimated that in the world today there are more than 40 million people trapped in some form of modern slavery (according to the 2019 Global Slavery Index). That works out as roughly 1 person out every 200 suffering various forms of exploitation, including:

•       Sexual exploitation (e.g. forced prostitution)

•       Cybersex trafficking (forcing children to engage in online ‘cybersex’)

•       Forced labour (legitimate work – e.g. nail bars – but with poor pay and conditions)

•       Criminal exploitation (illegal work, e.g. cannabis cultivation / begging)

•       Domestic servitude (e.g. working as an in-house servant or slave)

•       Organ harvesting (removal of vital organs for sale on the black market)

•       County lines (exploitation of vulnerable young people by drug gangs and traffickers)

Reading that list is appalling and unsettling. People can be unspeakably cruel! As Christians we must be in no doubt that ALL people are made in God’s image, precious in his sight and therefore any such abuse is sinful and wicked. No reasonably-minded person would contest that modern day slavery is a vile industry and that action should be taken to bring perpetrators to justice and that compassionate care should be offered to those whose lives have been affected. And while it is heartening that the church is at the forefront of the global battle against modern slavery, it must also be acknowledged that there is a lot of magnificent anti-slavery work being by those who do not share our faith. So where do Christians fit in?

I want to suggest that because of the gospel of Jesus Christ we have both a compelling reason for involvement and a unique role to play.

Our Story

Perhaps we should start by acknowledging that our own story is one of redemption from slavery. Of course, few of us, if any, will have suffered in the same ways as Tim, but nonetheless those who have trusted Jesus have indeed been redeemed – from sin and death:

We ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:3-7).

So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God (Galatians 4:7).

Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine (Isaiah 43:1).

These verses (and many like them) resonate deeply with me because they tell my story. Before Christ I was a slave to pretty much every lust, impulse and sinful desire you could imagine, but by the power of the gospel Jesus has literally set me free – spiritually, mentally, emotionally, eternally. My life is now one of glorious freedom and I wholeheartedly sing from the same hymn sheet as William Cowper:

Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be til I die! [1]

Our Response

So as those who have ransomed, healed, restored and forgiven by Jesus, what bearing should our beautiful redemption have on our response to modern slavery? Let’s dive into the Bible to find out.

A great place to start would be the story of God’s redemption of Israel from slavery in Egypt. Through a series of terrible plagues and supernatural signs, culminating with the sacrifice of the Passover lamb, God spectacularly led his people to freedom and ultimately to a new home in the land he had promised. This wonderful redemption story has been spoken about, sung about and celebrated throughout Jewish history even to the present day. Yet it is particularly fascinating to see how much of the worship, teaching and instruction in the Old Testament scriptures were rooted in this story of redemption. Perhaps the introduction to the Ten Commandments is most notable:

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me… (Deuteronomy 5:6-7).

God could have simply laid down the Law and told his people, this is what is required. But he didn’t; he reminded his people that they had been set free from slavery for their obedience, not by their obedience. In other words, they were saved by grace for good works – just like us (Ephesians 2:8-10). Salvation precedes ministry and the gospel both demands and enables action. This is crucial in understanding the role that our redemption plays in responding to modern slavery, both as our motive and as our model. As Tim Keller says:

The only true and enduring motivation for the ministry of mercy is an experience and a grasp of the grace of God in the gospel. [2]

If God wants us to engage with the injustice of modern slavery then we must engage with it – not because we have to but because we get to. In other words, if the Scriptures command us to get involved then we surely must. So what does the Bible have to say?

Here are a few verses:

He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8).

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? (Isaiah 58:6).

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others (Matthew 23:23).

Doing justice, loving kindness, being merciful, setting the oppressed free… and this just from a tiny handful of verses (there are plenty more where they came from). We were not saved to merely revel in the gospel; we were saved to actively reveal the gospel wherever sin, darkness and injustice are found in our world. Or to put another way, we were redeemed for redemption. So, what should that look like for us?

Humble Creativity

As mentioned above there are already many wonderful and worthy things being done by the police, the justice system and various secular charities to both bring traffickers to justice and also to rescue, care for and restore victims. This should be applauded and we should support these endeavours whenever possible and appropriate. One of the greatest traps that the church can fall into in this area is to dismiss all the good work that is being done by those who do not share our faith and to simply replicate the same kind of work but with a Christian slant. This is both arrogant and unnecessary!

There is so much work that needs to be done that there is no point reinventing the wheel in the name of Jesus. Far better to simply ask where there might be gaps in provision and to humbly go about filling those gaps. It was this approach that led to Red Community’s Embrace – a project that equips Christians to offer the precious gift of friendship to trafficking survivors in South Wales, alongside providing small, quickly accessible financial grants for support workers to meet the urgent needs of their clients. There are no similar projects in South Wales and so this has both filled a gap and enhanced relations with local agencies.

Prayer Power

Our primary weapon in the battle against modern slavery is prayer. It is essential, powerful and exclusively available to followers of Jesus, through whom we have access to the Father. Sadly, it is a weapon that we so often fail to wield. Prayerlessness essentially reveals two things: Firstly, that we believe we can do this without God’s help. Secondly, that we doubt God’s desire and/or power to act justly. Any attempt on our part to push back the forces of darkness, pursue justice and bring hope that is not birthed in and dependent on prayer will be fleshly at best and will ultimately prove futile. Jesus, when encouraging his disciples to pray without giving up, told them a parable (Luke 18:1-8) about a widow who refused to stop knocking at a judge’s door until she received the justice she desperately craved. We need to be praying like justice-hungry widows today!

Compelling Community

When I met Tim he had no friends in the city – and yet in our church he found a loving, accepting and supportive community. Indeed, when ruling on Tim’s asylum claim the judge noted that:

…he rightly views the church he attends as his family. This is the only family that he has or anything approximating to a family.

The church has many faults and failings, but when she functions as she should she is a refuge for the broken, a family for the lonely and a stunning apologetic for the gospel.

The Hope of Jesus


Over the last ten years I have heard some of the most harrowing stories of suffering and abuse. I have despaired at the brokenness and depravity of this world and shed many tears. Imagine how much more devastating it is for those whom these stories are lived realities! And yet the gospel does not permit us as Christians to despair without hope. Indeed, the good news of the Kingdom is that this world will not remain in darkness and bondage forever. The King will return and he will make all things new and those who have trusted him will know total healing, relentless joy, eternal security, glorious wholeness and all bitter tears will be fully and finally wiped away by the Lamb who was slain for our redemption. This is the ultimate happy ending and only the people of God can hold out this hope. Therefore, it is imperative that the gospel remains the motive behind our ministry, the model for our ministry and the pulsating message of our ministry.

We were redeemed for redemption, so let’s fight for the trafficked, exploited and enslaved with faith and ferocity!

Dai Hankey is pastor of Redeemer – a diverse inner-city church that he planted in Cardiff in 2017. He also heads up Red Community – a gospel-centred anti-slavery charity, and is a director of Manumit – a coffee roasting business that employs survivors of modern slavery. He has also written a few books. 

For more information check out:

International Justice Mission (www.ijmuk.org)
Red Community (www.redcommunity.co.uk)
Manumit Coffee (www.manumitcoffee.co.uk)

(This article was originally published in the Affinity Social Issues Bulletin for February 2021. The whole edition can be found at www.affinity.org.uk)

[1] There is a fountain filled with blood, William Cowper (1731-1800).
[2] Timothy Keller, Ministries of Mercy (London, SPCK Publishing, 2017), 44.