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May 1, 2020 - No Comments!

The Fight In Australia

Recently it was reported that, “The United States, Britain and Australia are the main consumers of child sex abuse streamed over webcam” (spokesperson from the AFP).

ZOE raises awareness in Australia through the media, influential voices, speaking engagements, internet communities, and encouraging student involvement.

ZOE’s work in Australia to ”prevent,” ”educate,” and ”bring awareness to” trafficking continues. Although the corona virus has affected the movement of our team, and restricted school, church, and small group visits, each staff member is working from home, staying in contact with each other via video calls, and collaborating on projects in preparation for the future.

Our Development and Advocacy Coordinator, has been finding ways to connect with small groups online to pray, or bring awareness about, issues related to child exploitation both in Australia and overseas.

One of his highlights from last week was a ZOOM meeting with one of Petersham AOG’s connect groups. Let’s hear why!

“There were a number of reasons why. First, I was able to share ZOE and my personal experiences of rescue, restoration, and prevention. There was a deeply moving moment when I shared the time when a little bunch of rescued children gathered around me to pray at one of our regular ZOE Prayer nights. I mentioned how for the first time I’d experienced the wholeness, the courage, and the trust of children who had been rescued and restored from serious abuse – this experience changed my life forever. Second, I talked about how I joined in with an American Police team to gain intel on a trafficker and how that information was then passed onto the Thai Police. Significantly, I was able to share how the relationship between ZOE, the Thai Police, and Thai Government is deeply respected and crucial for the process of rescue and restoration of children in Thailand. Not only that, this deeply trusted relationship resulted in the recent arrest of an identified trafficker and the rescue of a number of children.  We praised God for this wonderful relationship. And last, a significant highlight was being able to reveal that the exploitation of children is a very real Australian problem to solve and prevent.  With the self-isolating effects of the Covid-19, many Australians are being encouraged into pornography. Australians have spent more than $1.3 million to watch child sexual abuse, live streamed on the internet from the Philippines, over 13 years. Likewise, I shared how I am gaining an unquenchable sense that bringing awareness to Australians, stimulating prevention here in Australia, and activating rescue of Australians from pornography is a vision that’s being powerfully awakened within me. As it was with the group I met with from Petersham AOG, Australians are significantly unaware of our problems to solve and prevent. Through our ZOE family, I want to change this! Jesus is on the move and wants us to ‘set my people free’ both ‘here’ and ‘there’.”

We believe that God is breaking into dark places with a rescue plan – a plan to bring light, exposure, restoration, protection, and to release victory over darkness!

If you would like to join in and pray, please email.

Our monthly impact giving, helps ZOE to fund all the areas of greatest need.

ZOE Australia Facebook  Instagram

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March 1, 2020 - No Comments!

Child Trafficking & Australians

We now know that, in the past, slavery and trafficking offenses occurring in Australia have been under-reported. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has recently seen a rise in referrals. According to the AFP, Australia is primarily a destination country for people trafficked from Asia, particularly Thailand, Korea, the Philippines. and Malaysia.

Between 1995 and 2006, the majority of child sexual abusers and exploiters who traveled to Thailand, to commit sex offenses against children were Australians.

“Australians were the biggest exploiters of Thailand’s child sex tourism” (Johns Hopkins University)

More recently, reports show that Australian perpetrators have been involved in grooming children online, usually in developing countries. The Australian Federal Police is concerned that the demand for child abuse material is increasing across the country.

“In 2014 we received about 4,500 referrals of child exploitation material and in 2015 it was 11,000.” (Justine Saunders AFP Assistant Commissioner)

And even more recently it was reported that, “The United States, Britain and Australia are the main consumers of child sex abuse streamed over webcam.” (spokesperson from the Australian Federal Police)

ZOE raises awareness in Australia through the media, entertainment industry, influential voices, speaking engagements, internet communities, and encouraging university and high school involvement.

Our education in schools is reaching more and more students.

ZOE also raises funds to support programs in Thailand in the areas of prevention, rescue, and restoration. Stay up-to-date with news from Australia here.

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January 1, 2020 - No Comments!

SELF Integrity

Did you know that studies reveal that as small as 8% percent of people actually keep their New Year’s resolutions?

Why is it so hard to achieve the goals we set, whether they are big or small?

Some say, it’s not the goal but the process that’s the problem. Other’s say that you won’t create change until you’re really ready. Some people say that the goal needs to be specific. So what is it? Mind over matter? Timing? Preparation? The process? Motivation?

I hear the word ‘integrity’ talked about a lot. It’s one of ZOE’s core values and something that all of us are tested on daily. It’s doing what you said you were going to do when you said you were going to do it.

Our “yes” means “yes” and our “no” means “no.”
People can rely on us, because honesty, truth, and God’s principles are what we live by.

We are the same in front of people and behind closed doors in secret.

Recently I heard something that made a lot of sense to me. It was the idea that we often show integrity towards other people, but not ourselves.

Think about it. Have you ever tried to achieve a personal goal and failed? Multiple times right? You said to yourself, “Starting tomorrow I’m going to…” Why is it that we find it easier to honour the promises we make to other people more than those we make to ourselves?

The speaker went on to say that our self integrity and our dignity are closely linked. When we make a commitment to ourselves and fail, our dignity takes a hit. After committing to things over and over - it’s easy to see how our dignity (the way we feel about ourselves, our confidence, self love etc.) starts plummeting. Our self-esteem suffers, and keeps deteriorating gradually, when we don’t practise self integrity.

We all have personal values but when we don’t act in accordance with our values; when we break a commitment to ourselves; or go back on a promise we made, it’s not demonstrating self integrity.

Living with integrity means...
behaving in ways that are in harmony with your personal values.
-Barbara De Angelis

We set our goals in accordance with our values. So if I value being fit, I might commit to run every day, go to the gym 3-5 per week or walk around my neighbourhood each night. Maybe you value being healthy so you set a goal to eat healthy and lose weight. You value parenting in a respectful way, so you vow to stop yelling at your kids. You want to be a good steward with your finances, so you commit to saving money. You value a tidy home, so you promise to put your belongings away as soon as you’re done using them... There are many more examples!

But when you don’t go to the gym and you continue to eat fast food or you keep yelling at your kids and your home is a mess; it feels like you’ve failed again. How do you get back up?

One commitment at a time.

The way forward is by creating a path of small successes or developing micro habits. To build self integrity we need to start with one small commitment to ourselves. Only after we have successfully kept that one should we make another one.

Commit to making your bed every day, washing the dishes as soon as dinner’s done, walking the dog for 5 minutes a day...whatever it is, but start to build back trust in yourself. Do what you say you’ll do! No matter what! And don’t say you'll do something that you’re not able to do because the goal is to succeed when you practise self integrity. Following through on even the smallest commitments builds mental strength. It proves that if you deem something important and it becomes your priority.

After a while, when you feel good about the small challenges you’ve made, your self-esteem will start to improve and you will develop the muscle of self-trust instead of self-sabotage. Only when you can trust yourself and you show self integrity in the small things, can you begin to commit to the bigger goals you have until finally you’re actually doing what you said you were going to do when you said you were going to do it.

Have you said, “I want to help end child trafficking”?

How about just re-sharing ZOE’s social media posts? Once you’ve been doing that for a few weeks, think about something else that you can realistically commit to doing. Many people say that they want to achieve a really big goal but they aren't prepared to take the small, achievable steps required to build towards their end goal. Start by honouring your small commitments and see what’s possible!