Easter is a time when many Christians around the world especially remember the finished, saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ’s sacrificial death and glorious resurrection are the means by which He has set His people free from slavery to sin.
A key Old Testament foreshadowing of this wonderful redemption is the Lord’s rescue of His people from slavery in Egypt. For this reason Luke, in the original Greek of his Gospel, writes that on the Mount of Transfiguration Christ spoke to Moses and Elijah about the “exodus” that “he was about to bring to fulfilment at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31).
On the night before He was crucified, the Lord took the Passover meal that commemorated the exodus from Egypt and transformed it into the Lord’s Supper that we continue to observe today as a reminder of His broken body and shed blood, in which we have our freedom.
This Easter, you can sponsor a family and free them from bonded labour
Indeed, the Apostle Paul tells the believers in Galatia:
Sadly, the kind of slavery experienced by the Israelites in Egypt has not disappeared from our world. Among the many examples of modern-day slavery are the thousands upon thousands of people who toil as bonded labourers in the brick kilns of Pakistan.
The majority of these modern-day slaves are Christians – our own brothers and sisters.
For the first time, Barnabas Aid’s brick kiln loan repayment project has become part of Living Streams. With a regular monthly gift, you can free a Christian family from bonded labour in Pakistan’s brick kilns.
Faqiria, a Christian father of two, is just one of them. Faqiria had no other choice than to borrow the money to pay for urgent medical treatment when one of his two sons contracted polio. When the virus left the child paralysed and in need of further medical care, including surgery, Faqiria had to borrow even more.
At the same time Faqiria and his wife, Sabira, had to manage on even less, as repayment for the high-interest loans was deducted from Faqiria’s already meagre wages.
Faqiria’s story is sadly typical. Impoverished and marginalised Pakistani Christians are often forced by their desperate circumstances to borrow money from their employers, the brick kiln owners. Often the levels of interest charged by unscrupulous employers are so high that the loans are impossible to pay off. The debts are then passed on to the workers’ children and grandchildren, enslaving generations in misery.
Praise the Lord that Faqiria is among the 213 Christian families that Barnabas has freed from slavery in the past year.
“We are grateful to God who sent Barnabas Aid as our deliverer,” says Faqiria. “We were like slaves. Now we have freedom.”
A Pakistani Christian family who have been freed from bonded labour
Like the slavery of the Israelites, the desperate plight of Pakistan’s Christians is a picture of the spiritual slavery that afflicts us all. Like the rescue of the Lord’s people from Egypt, the freeing of these men, women and children is a beautiful picture of the spiritual rescue accomplished by Christ.
But there are many more believers still trapped in bonded labour. For freedom Christ has already set them free – free from slavery to sin and spiritual death. Can you help us set them free from the misery and slavery that they continue to suffer?
How you can give
$50, $100, $140 a month for 18 months could free a brick kiln family from a smaller, average-sized, or larger debt.
All families featured in the appeal are already supported by Barnabas Aid. Please sign up for Living Streams today.
