Christine Caine: Hillsong Church, The A21 Campaign

CHRISTINE CAINE: An ordained minister and global ambassador for Hillsong Church, Christine Caine is a gifted communicator on a mission to build the local church globally. She and her husband, Nick, are founders of Equip & Empower Ministries and The A21 Campaign, which educates people about the growing human trafficking industry and provides a rescue home for women and children forced into prostitution.

CONNECTION TO OUTREACH MAGAZINE: The September/October 2010 issue of Outreach features Caine on the cover and inside the pages in a feature-length article: The Outreach Interview. 

CHRISTINE SAYS:

On what compassion is and isn’t: “In the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus says the Samaritan was walking and saw the beaten man, and he had compassion on him, so he went to him. Compassion’s only compassion when you cross the street and go to someone. Too often, we confuse compassion with emotion.”

On discovering she was adopted at age 33: “I remember going down that track of, ‘You weren’t wanted,’ and realizing that this—the preaching and the Christian career—wasn’t a game to me; there was such revelation of the truth of the Word. Here I was holding this black-and-white paper saying I was adopted, my mother didn’t want me, and my name was ‘2508.’ But we have another black-and-white paper, and it’s called the Truth or the Word of God. And it says that I am named. The Lord just clicked into my mind Isaiah 49:1: ‘From the womb of your mother, I have named your name.’ And I’m thinking this as I’m holding the paper that says ‘unwanted,’ but the Scriptures say that ‘before you even got in that womb, I called you.’ In my office in Sydney, we have on the walls pictures of babies that people have sent me, babies they were going to abort but didn’t because they heard me tell my story.”

On taking light into darkness: “If our job is to take light into the midst of darkness—and the Bible says it is—let’s wake up! There are 12 million Greeks and maybe 10,000 evangelical believers there. In Albania, maybe 1,000 out of 10 million are believers. How are we going to go into all of the world and make disciples unless we go into all of the world and make disciples?”

On the importance and impact of prayer: “It’s not surprising to me that A21’s first conviction of a sex trafficker was June 21, 2010. We designate the 21st of every month to fast and pray. It says to people, ‘Prayer works!’ We put out a global request asking for people to pray for the ‘stan’ nations, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, etc., because we weren’t seeing much breakthrough in their big Muslim countries. Two days later, we got a young girl from Uzbekistan into the shelter. The church has a weapon the world just doesn’t have, so all of us can pray. The A21 website has a prayer you can download and pray every day.”

On the Church’s response to the global sex trafficking pandemic: “People are shocked and so unaware. The women are getting it first. Thank God for the movie Taken with Liam Neeson because that sort of gives the men something to hold on to. It’s kind of a Hollywood take, but that’s OK, whatever it takes. I’ve really seen probably hundreds of churches begin to partner with us and understanding that the last thing we need is everyone running around being Liam Neeson. They’re saying, ‘This is a credible organization; let’s pool our resources and make it part of our missions profile.’ I think the Holy Spirit’s moving on people’s hearts.”

HOW TO LINK: Connect to Christine at TheA21Campaign.org, EquipandEmpower.org, Facebook and Twitter

GOT A QUESTION OR COMMENT? Post a comment on this page, or send an e-mail.

BOOKS BY CHRISTINE:

A Life Unleashed: Giving Birth to Your Dreams

 

Run to Win! Pursuing God and Finishing Strong Success

Stop Acting Like a Christian, Just Be One

Each issue of Outreach is designed to bring you the ideas, innovations and resources that will help you reach your community and change the world. 

Gail Allyn Short
Gail Allyn Shorthttp://gailashort.wordpress.com

Gail Allyn Short is freelance writer in Birmingham, Alabama. She leads a nursing home ministry and teaches a Bible study class for new believers at Integrity Bible Church.