September 24, 2009
By Betsy Blanchard, serving in Granada, Spain
The following is an adaptation of Betsy Blanchard’s recent update about the Cinderella’s House ministry, her God-given vision to address the overwhelming needs of Spain’s sex-traffic victims.
An estimated 350,000 women in Spain are hidden behind the doors of more than 2,000 legal brothels called “Alternative Clubs.” Mostly illegal immigrants, these women are enslaved to satisfy the appetites of an estimated 40 percent of Spain’s male population who seek their services regularly.
Prayer!
I have been doing intensive research and strategic planning to best meet the needs of these women in crisis. God has given me many important insights. What has been overwhelmingly clear is that when God calls one to this ministry:
- He opens doors that no man can close
- It’s slow and hard work; and
- In order to succeed PRAYER, PRAYER, PRAYER is needed.
If you embark in this type of ministry, make sure you have many praying people supporting you in this spiritual battle! This is the only way forward, for it is only Christ who can break the bondage and bring new life among those ensnared in the sordid sex-trafficking business.
As I continue to learn about the horrors of sexual exploitation and the situation in Spain, God has reminded me as well of two things I’d like to share with you.
Our Biblical Heritage
In the late 1800s, Alliance founder Dr. A. B. Simpson was moved by the unmet needs of the marginalized. Leaving a lucrative pastorate in a well known church, he established the Gospel Tabernacle in New York City. God led the church to embark on new approaches for that day to reach the lost, including a number of street prostitutes. Many of these destitute women found new life and hope in Jesus as a result.
My prayer is that Cinderella’s House will follow not only this heritage, but the mandate of our Savior, who also loved and cared for prostitutes!
Divine Healing for the Whole Person:
Dr. Simpson also believed whole-heartedly in Jesus as our Divine Healer; this, too, is part of our Alliance heritage. Women caught in prostitution and sex trafficking-the overwhelming majority of whom have suffered physical, emotional, and especially childhood sexual abuse-desperately need Jesus’ healing touch.
Lied to from their earliest memories, many of these women have distorted thinking that has trapped them in a cycle of hopelessness and vulnerability hard to understand and harder still to break. Since their life experiences define “love” in destructive ways, the “Good News” is a concept almost beyond their comprehension. A lasting demonstration of God’s love through a deep, divine touch from the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of their hearts and to heal the most damaged places in their lives is desperately needed.
Prayer and Fasting
In order to break such bondage our Heavenly Father calls us to fast, “to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness,” (Isaiah 42:7).
The 4th Annual International Weekend of Prayer and Fasting for the Victims of Sex Trafficking is September 25-27. Will you join me and believers worldwide to fast and pray for at least one meal that weekend on behalf of the victims of today’s slave trade-sex trafficking? If you are led to do so, please pray for
- God’s leading in the building of the Cinderella’s House ministry, and
- Freedom through Christ amongst the 350,000 women caught in sex trafficking in Spain.
Your faithful giving to Alliance Great Commission Ministries allows me the privilege and joy to serve in Spain, as we “Live the Call Together!”
You can also donate online to the Cinderella’s House project to help make this vital ministry a reality!
Learn More
Read another article about the Cinderella’s House ministry.
For additional suggestions on how to pray Sept. 25-27, check out the Salvation Army Web site
Please note that by clicking this link you will be leaving The Alliance website.
July 8, 2009
An estimated 350,000 enslaved prostitutes live in Spain, said Betsy Blanchard in her July 4 ministry update from the southern European nation. “These women are forced to ‘work,’ sometimes 14-hour days, regularly shifted between more than 2,000 legal brothels and other venues. The stories are shocking!”
To assist these women in crisis, God has laid a vision on the heart of this veteran Alliance worker to establish a residential center-”Cinderella’s House.” In a May 2009 article she explained that the home will be “a center for restoration where a hopeless and broken ‘princess’ (a daughter of the King of Kings!) can meet the Prince of Peace and be transformed.”
Alliance Women Ministries has designated the new center as its official project for 2009/2010.
“Almost No Way Out”
Young women trafficked into Spain for prostitution purposes range in age from 16 to 25, Blanchard said; most are immigrants from Latin America, Eastern Europe, and parts of Africa. “Enticed to Spain by what seem to be legitimate jobs, they find themselves enslaved . . . with almost no way out.”
Blanchard returned to Granada, Spain, June 27th from a year-long furlough in the United States that included visiting two residential women’s programs in Nashville, Tennessee. Both centers provided insights that will help to inform the new ministry’s administration.
“I hope to visit an organization in Madrid next week,” she concluded in her recent update. “[It] is trying to raise awareness of the problem and bring together various groups who are working to address the issues.”
How You Can Help
“Please pray for God’s guidance, His favor, and His provision” Blanchard requested, “to get Cinderella’s House off the drawing board and into reality, so that broken Cinderellas can meet the Prince of Peace and learn that they are deeply loved!”
Donate online to the Cinderella’s House Project-help make this vital ministry a reality!
Learn More
Read about our work in Spain.
May 14, 2009
By Betsy Blanchard, serving in Spain
Editor’s note: Excerpts from Betsy’s recent newsletter describe her vision to assist immigrant women in Spain, many of whom are victims of sex-trafficking.
Great needs and spiritual darkness are a tangible part of life in my adopted home-Spain.
Spain’s Most Vulnerable
According to experts, immigrant women from Eastern Europe, Africa, Arabia, and Latin America have a 25 percent higher risk of being subjected to domestic violence in Spain.
Domestic violence is not the only problem these women face. There is a growing problem across Europe—including Spain—of sex-trafficking.
Young women-often girls in their teens, mostly from Latin America, Eastern Europe, and a few countries in Africa-are being forced into prostitution. Enticed to Spain by what seem to be legitimate jobs, they find themselves enslaved in prostitution, with almost no way out-hopeless, their young lives in ruins.
Cinderella’s House
God has laid a vision on my heart to establish a residential center—”Cinderella’s House”—to minister to these women in crisis. A center for restoration, it is where a hopeless and broken “princess” (a daughter of the King of Kings!) can meet the Prince of Peace and be transformed.
I spent the last six to eight months of my term in Spain laying some groundwork for this dream, researching possible sites for this ministry. My efforts will now focus primarily on getting this project off the ground—as God leads and provides.
Please continue to pray with me that God will soon make the Cinderella’s House project a reality that will impact women in crisis across Spain with the love of Jesus.
Learn More
Read about our work in Spain.
What You Can Do
Your support of Alliance Great Commission Ministries allows dedicated international workers like Betsy to continue their work-reaching the hopeless with the transforming message of Christ’s love.
To help get “Cinderella’s House” off the ground, you can mark your gift in any one of the following ways: “Cinderella’s House,” “Women in Crisis-Spain,” or “E. Blanchard Work Funds.” (Any of these designations will go toward the costs involved in Betsy’s ministry to women in crisis, as described in this article.)
Forums
RSS
Podcasts
Newsletters