Jesus loves strippers too, but fear of the unknown often hinders Christians from reaching out to women trapped in the sex industry, a leader in an outreach ministry to exotic dancers said at a recent conference on empowering marginalized communities in Waco, Texas.
“The common denominator between the church and women staying where they are is fear,” said Emily Mills, co-director of Jesus Said Love (JSL), a Waco-based ministry that she and her husband launched in 2005, at the Oct. 18–20 No Need Among You community development conference. The conference was sponsored by groups including several Texas Baptist organizations.
Mills said the need to reach out to dancers is great. Many times people think the sex industry is larger outside the U.S. But 80 percent of the world’s pornography is made in Silicon Valley, and the U.S. is the No. 1 destination for sex tourism.
JSL seeks to build trusting relationships with the dancers, club managers and owners, showing them they are loved by Christ and valued by the JSL team. The team prays that life transformation will take place through these relationships.
“Our calling is to build healthy relationships with women in the strip clubs,” Mills said. “Through these relationships we want to share God’s love. And then when they are ready to get out, we can be there for them.”
The JSL team visits the strip clubs monthly, taking the women gift bags filled with soap, shampoo and baked treats typically provided by local churches.
Because of the bonds that develop between managers and their dancers, Mills said, managers are open to the ministry team connecting with the women.
“The managers do try to take care of their girls,” Mills said. “Even though they are exploiting them, they do feel it is part of their role to take care of them. One said that a stripper is not a stripper forever, so it’s nice to know they can call Jesus Said Love.”
In the process lives are changed for dancers and volunteers. Lori Warren, coordinator of JSL Dallas, said she met a stripper named Kathleen through a club ministry and they formed a close friendship.
“I believe that the Lord used Kathleen to change me,” Warren said. “She ministered to me in a huge way. I will never be the same because of that woman.”
Kathleen decided she wanted out of the stripping business, and Warren and her church were there to support her.
“She came to the Lord, and she called me one day freaking out — ‘I don’t have money, I don’t want to go back to sex work,’” Warren said. “I sent out a text asking people to pray for Kathleen.” Within a couple of hours, women at the church gathered more than $700 to help Kathleen and let her know she was not alone in her journey.
The ministry’s roots began in the winter of 2002, when Brett and Emily Mills were worship leaders for a conference focused on ministry to sex workers. Moved by the stories of former sex workers, Emily Mills returned home with a burden for the marginalized in Waco.
Within two weeks the first Easter outreach was organized, and women armed with gift bags ventured into two Waco strip clubs. Both club managers gave the women open invitations to return any time, and the group returned to the clubs every Easter and Christmas for the next few years.
In 2005 the idea grew to the point that the couple decided to branch off of their established worship ministry and created Jesus Said Love. The group moved to monthly outreaches in the summer of 2007. Ministry teams now function in Waco, Dallas, College Station and San Antonio, all located in Texas.
Emily Mills said three main efforts are needed to start a ministry to exotic dancers: a team that will cover the ministry efforts with prayer, a hospitality team to bake cookies and prepare gifts for the dancers, and a club team that goes once a month to deliver the gifts and build relationships with the dancers at the clubs.
Ministry volunteers also should be willing to wrestle with their own walk with God through the journey of ministering to strippers. Mills shared that one way the church can build bridges to strippers is to leave room for questions.
“The gospel, the Bible, is big enough for our deepest fears and questions,” Emily Mills said. “We have to let some of our fear go. We have to let go of some of the black and white things if we are going to do life with the broken.”
(ABP)
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