Something I would like to be involved in is outreach to prostituted people. Prostitution is talked about in the Bible. In Genesis 28, we hear about Tamar. She was married to the son of Judah, but her husband died. There was a law that was followed at that time that basically said if a husband dies, it is the responsibility of a surviving brother to marry her, have children with her, and take care of her. This helped to carry on the family line. Back then, a woman depended on her husband and children to care for her. In the case of Tamar, the brother of her husband would sleep with her, but not agree to having children with her, and then he died! There was one other brother, but Judah didn’t want to make that arrangement. He was afraid this son too would die. So he lied to Tamar - promising his son to her, but not intending to fulfill that promise. Tamar figured his deception out. What was she to do? Tamar decided to do what she needed to do in order to guarantee her survival since the law was not being followed. She dressed as a prostitute and went to the city gate, and Judah came along. Because of how she was dressed, he did not recognize her and approached her for sex.
What would you say about a woman who did that? A lot of people would condemn her, judge her, and stay away from her. But the truth is if Tamar did not have a husband or children, she would end up a desolate, poor woman. Does this happen now? Maybe not in the exact same way, but everyday women, men, and children do what they need to do to survive. Not because they like what they do, but because they feel they have no other choice. 85% - 95% of those in prostitution want to escape it, but have no other options for survival. They may be homeless, without enough education to get another kind of job, without family, or with family that was abusive. 65% - 95% of those in prostitution were sexually assaulted as children. We may not like to think about this because it seems too ugly. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. And how can we help if we won’t think about something or look at something?
How do we help? I believe the first thing is to love that person as they will allow you. It may take time and persistence for them to trust you at all. But to me it makes sense to start by loving and accepting them before we try to tell them they need Jesus. They first may need food, or clothes, personal care items, or a safe place to stay. They need their survival needs met first. They need to feel accepted as they are - that they don’t have to clean up before we can love them. It happens in our lives as well. If we feel accepted and loved, we are more open to suggestions and encouragement from other people.
Every person has a different calling. This may not be your calling to get actively involved in. But just learning about this may open your heart to have compassion rather than judgment.

*The statistics above came from the website, www.prostitutionresearch.com.