by Lauren Hines

Hundreds of people gathered together in Washington, D.C., the last weekend of March for one purpose: to pray for justice.

According to their Web site, International Justice Mission [IJM] is “a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression.” IJM has a chapter at Cornerstone in which students seek to raise awareness of social injustice, raise money to donate to the organization and support IJM through prayer.

“They have around 20 fields in developing nations that fight against the injustice issues of slavery, sexual trafficking, child prostitution, illegal land seizure, illegal detention, unprosecuted rape, and other injustice issues,” said Emma Rosauer, senior.

Once a year, all IJM supporters get together in Washington, D.C., for a whole weekend of prayer for all the IJM fields. This year, there were over 900 people in attendance.

“The IJM Global Prayer Gathering is when faculty, staff and partners of IJM come together to learn about what God is doing in the countries IJM works in,” said Nancy Gavina, junior. “It’s a time of worship, prayer and fellowship.”

“At the prayer gathering we prayed alongside lawyers, social workers, government officials, people from several different countries — all asking God to further the cause of justice through IJM and their work,” said Rosauer.

Rosauer said the event was powerful for her.

“Being able to pray with unity of spirit with hundreds of other believers is simply incredible,” said Rosauer. “The Spirit of the Lord resides within that organization, and I love being able to be a part of it.”

But the weekend wasn’t just about prayer, according to Brian Carr, senior. It was also “to hear of the victories of the prior year and encourage each other to continue the work that they are doing.”

Carr said hearing stories and the time in prayer expanded his passion for justice.

“It is my duty as a man of God to … be a protector of the weak, and to comfort those in need, to borrow a line from the everlasting God,” Carr said. “So I now try to stand up when I see injustice whether large or small.”

The weekend also showcased speakers to talk about injustice in countries around the world. In different rooms, various countries were represented, with case workers and lawyers in each to share what was happening in those areas.

“They shared case stories and prayer requests, shared answered prayer requests from last year and then there was about an hour of prayer,” Gavina said. “In every country room, when the session was over they had little trinkets, most made by those rescued by IJM, that we were able to take to remind us to continually pray for that country, the people in need, and those in leadership there, both in government and IJM.”

While each student took away something meaningful from the event, they were all challenged in a profound way to fight against injustice and support the oppressed.

“The gathering wasn’t about IJM,” said Gavina. “It was about the people they help, the people in need, who are suffering, who are abused. It was about them.”