By Alexandra Brewer | Arts & Life Intern

Sex trafficking isn’t a distant tragedy. It thrives because we tolerate objectification in social media. We normalize pornography because we scroll past awareness posts, thinking that someone else will fix it. Our faith commands us to act, but our comfort has made us passive. Silence isn’t an option.

Chains aren’t in far-off prisons. They’re in houses, hotels, DMs and text messages. This isn’t just happening across the world, but rather in the neighborhoods we rode our bikes in and the houses we walked our dogs past.

Oftentimes, sex trafficking seems like a far-off issue. Something we only see on police department Instagram pages and grocery store bulletin boards. However, studies show that the problem is much more prevalent than we realize.

Research from the University of Texas at Austin showed that Texas consistently ranks second in the U.S. for human trafficking, with an estimated 79,000 minors in Texas being victims. According to Togetherfreedom.org, the average age of these children is 13 years old.

These aren’t just abstract numbers and statistics; they’re the kids we babysit and sit behind in math class. It’s not always obvious either, sex traffickers commonly use psychological manipulation, grooming, emotional abuse and debt bondage to trap victims in plain sight.

I learned this firsthand at a seminar during the Beyond Us missions conference in Waco. Susan Peters, a speaker on trafficking prevention and founder of Unbound Now, urged every workplace and community to be trained on advocacy. She also said that most victims of trafficking aren’t like what you see in the movies. They still exist in everyday society, but with a puppeteer that controls them.

In the sex industry, many women don’t keep the money that they make, but rather have a person controlling their money for them. “If you are not in control of your money, you are being trafficked,” Peters said.

We cannot claim to follow Christ and look away from the situation at hand.

Action looks like education: learning the signs, understanding how coercion happens and spreading awareness beyond an empty comment on a social media post. Education is the key to changing and saving lives. It looks like supporting the organizations that rescue survivors and lobbying for policies that protect vulnerable populations. It can also be speaking up and confronting injustice, even when it’s uncomfortable, even when our community resists.

Faith also calls us to examine ourselves. How often are we engaging in jokes and conversations that normalize exploitation? How often do we look away because it’s easier than taking responsibility? True faith demands that we look inward, self-reflect and be willing to act even when it’s uncomfortable.

We need to educate, advocate, speak and volunteer. We can bear the discomfort of knowing and allow it to ignite courage. Faith is not a comfort; it’s a call.

The next time you hear the word “freedom,” remember that somewhere, someone is still waiting for it. And until they have it, we’re called to fight for it, not with empty words or passive concern, but with lives, voices and hearts willing to act. Silence isn’t an option.