Working and praying to stop slavery and violence 

International Justice Mission (IJM) in collaboration with governments and local partners, has brought freedom to over 490,000 people and protected more than 10 million from slavery and violence.

It also resources churches to pray for IJM’s work around the world, writes Georgie Niblett

International Justice Mission (IJM) is a global organisation working to stop slavery and violence. IJM partners with local authorities across 19 countries to bring people to safety, support survivors with trauma-informed care, hold perpetrators to account, and strengthen justice systems so people are protected in the first place.

Both as a UK and global team, we have witnessed the transformative power of prayer to bring light, hope, and justice – until all are free. 
 
Today, an estimated 50 million people around the world are trapped in slavery. 1 in 4 is a child – the equivalent of every child in England and Wales. This isn’t what the Lord envisioned for his world. In fact, Jesus was empowered by the Spirit to ‘proclaim freedom to the prisoners’ and ‘to set the oppressed free’ (Luke 4: 18). 

IJM was founded in 1997 by Gary Haugen, a former human rights lawyer, after he led the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into the Rwandan genocide. Gary was struck that those who had perished, ‘did not need someone to bring them a sermon, or food, or a doctor, or a teacher, or a microloan. They needed someone to restrain the hand with the machete, and nothing else would do.’ 

Almost 30 years later, IJM, in collaboration with governments and local partners, has brought freedom to over 490,000 people and protected more than 10 million from slavery and violence. IJM continues to partner with God in his work of justice and restoration around the world. 
 

Pray for Justice

Theologian Karl Barth once wrote that, ‘to clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.’ At IJM, we know that in order to pursue God’s heart for justice, we need the joy of the Lord, the power of his Spirit, and the wisdom of the word. It is because of this truth that each office in IJM’s global team commit time each day to pray.

Prayer is foundational to IJM’s partnerships with churches, community groups, and individual supporters – it is in this space where the Pray for Justice tour was born. In partnership with 24-7 Prayer, IJM has equipped churches from around the world to clasp their hands in prayer and cry out to the Lord for freedom and justice in the face of slavery and violence.

From January to March 2026, 35 churches partnered with IJM UK, 24/7 Prayer GB, and 24/7 Prayer Ireland to host Pray for Justice gatherings. More than 900 people came together to worship and intercede for God’s justice to break into the darkness and violence faced by people living in poverty. 



Andy, who hosted a Pray for Justice in Oxford, reflected how, 'The Holy Spirit seemed to connect for me the holy-heaviness of interceding against this grievous evil, and the darkness that came over the land at the cross of Christ (Luke 23:44).

'It felt like we were given the honour of looking in on just a fraction of the darkness he bore as he took the sins of the world, and as we cried out to the Light of the World amid that darkness we were assured he would answer in power.

'Heavy, yes. But even more: hopeful, as we were drawn to Christ!'
 

Interceding against online sexual abuse of children

Together, we interceded for an end to the online sexual abuse and exploitation of children. 

Right now, sex offenders around the world – including the UK – are exploiting children without even leaving their homes. In 2022 nearly half a million children in the Philippines were estimated to be trafficked to produce new child sexual exploitation material, including livestreamed content (IJM and Nottingham Rights Lab, 2023).

That's roughly 1 in every 100 Filipino children. It might be particularly shocking to know that the UK is in the top three global consumers of livestreamed child sexual abuse. 

In response to this horrific injustice, Christians around the world lamented to a God who does not shy from the reality and the impact of sin and brokenness. This is something seen time and time again in the Psalms, where David and other psalmists bring before God their expressions of sorrow and pain for the state of the world and the suffering of God’s children. 

And yet, our hope remains. We lament to a God who ‘works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed’ (Psalm 103), who is good, kind, and faithful. Pray for Justice events also saw churches praising God for his character and his promises; for over 490,000 people who have already been brought to safety from slavery and violence.
 

Join us!
Does a Pray for Justice event sound like something your church or community would love to do? Get in touch with us at contact@IJMUK.org. To find out more about IJM’s work and how you can get involved, visit: IJMUK.org

 

Georgie Niblett is part of IJM’s Churches and Community Mobilisation Team. Based in London, she is passionate about equipping the Church to know more of God’s heart for justice.