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Embracing the Marginalised (with Kaeli Murphy)
77 Plays4 hours ago
What happens when Christians truly embrace reaching out to the 'least of these' right here in the UK? Those marginalised even by mainstream society - sex workers on the streets of our cities. While we don't think of it as 'evangelism,' surely being 'the hands and feet of Jesus' is a concrete way of sharing the gospel? It's certainly a challenging one!
Find out about how Embrace is ministering to those selling sex on the streets of Birmingham and Coventry.
Kaeli Murphy is the Project Manager for Embrace in Birmingham and began in post in June 2023 as the services were expanded from Coventry. She has been volunteering and working with Embrace for 6 years alongside working for a community centre as a Youth Worker, and has a Masters in Youth Work and Community Development. Kaeli lives in Birmingham with her husband and leads the youth work at her church. She loves spending time with people, hosting, music and DIY (or anything creative!)
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Transcript
Introduction to the Challenges of Street Sex Work
00:00:00
Speaker
For many women involved in on-street sex work, they have painful histories full of abuse and exploitation and so much trauma. While they are so resilient and many of them keep pushing forward, a lot of them are losing hope that their lives can be different.
00:00:14
Speaker
But we believe there is hope for everyone that God created.
Evangelism and Embrace Birmingham
00:00:28
Speaker
Now, as this poignant quote from Kayleigh Murphy demonstrates, we are covering a very different form of evangelism in this week's episode of Pep Talk, the persuasive evangelism podcast from Solas. Welcome to the show. I'm Simon Wenham, your co-host today, and I'm joined again by the amazing Christy Mayer. Christy, how are you doing?
00:00:46
Speaker
Simon, I'm doing well. It's great to be with you this morning, and I'm excited about our guest today. Absolutely, yes. We are going to be moving on shortly to speaking with Kayleigh
Kayleigh Murphy's Inspiration and Work
00:00:57
Speaker
Murphy. I'm delighted to introduce her. She is the project manager for Embrace Birmingham, a charity that works in the Midlands. Kayleigh, thank you you so much for being with us. um Before we get going, could you just say a little bit about your own background and perhaps a little bit about how you got involved in evangelism in the first place?
00:01:17
Speaker
Hi, yes, thank you for having me on. and i got involved in Embrace because when I was 14, my youth leader did my job and she told me, well, she told our whole group about what she did. And at 14 years old, something just in my heart, in my spirit, I guess, just went, I'm going to do that one day. And I guess the rest is history. God's just been,
00:01:47
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breaking my heart for people in marginalized spaces and the people who are often
Support for Women at Risk and Outreach Efforts
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unseen. i just feel a real heartbreak um about those situations and feel that nudge of these are these are God's people that he created and these are the people that Jesus spent his time with when he was walking on earth so I guess that's how I ended up doing what I'm doing. Kayleigh it's great to hear about some of your work I mean I believe youre you're a project development manager for Embrace aren't you can you tell us a little bit about what what actually is Embrace like what what does it do?
00:02:27
Speaker
Yeah so Embrace supports women who are at risk of exploitation ah particularly those who sell sex on the streets and and so what that looks like is we do outreach so we drive around ah what you would say is the red light district and we um give people hot chocolate and sandwiches um and we offer prayer and we get to know these women by name um and build relationships of trust with them and then we would follow on in the week. So that's my job is to pick up the needs from outreach and then see what we can do to meet those needs. So that means helping someone to move into accommodation or, um
00:03:16
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taking someone to an appointment, visiting them in hospital, taking food parcels, or like if it's someone's birthday, we'll take them for lunch. Um, it's, it's a whole range of, my job is different every single day. and but it's basically just to show up and show these women who don't, aren't embedded within communities of people looking after them and, and,
00:03:43
Speaker
um yeah often have multiple disadvantages all going on at once so just show up and be um the hands and feet of Jesus to love these women and to to know them and to pray with them Can you give us ah a sense of sort of the numbers of people that that you work with? I think some people may not be aware of sort of the extent that that this happens around us. And also actually that this is a normal part of life for people that perhaps, as you say, can can sometimes be unseen by others in society.
00:04:19
Speaker
Yeah, so I work in Birmingham alone and then we have Embracing Coventry as well. I'm also aware of several places across the city where this is happening and we only do outreach currently in one area and I have over 150 women on file that I've met only in the last I guess Embrace has existed in Birmingham for about three years now. and And we already know so many women and meet more. I feel like I meet a new woman, at least one new woman every time I go on outreach. So
00:04:58
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This is widespread and you just think that's repeated in cities all across the country.
Understanding the Cycle of Disadvantage
00:05:04
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And this is a huge cohort of women that fall through the cracks of most services. and So it's actually a bigger issue than we might think. And that's not even including anything indoor, um any sort of you know brothel work, things like that. I'm currently, I don't have capacity to support with any of that. So It's a huge area and one that does not get near enough. Um, I guess recognition of the challenges that are going on. This is really good to hear more about this, Kaylee. I was quite struck by you using the phrase, uh, women who sell sex on the street. Um, can you tell us a little bit about what, what it is that puts women in situations like that? Like, do you find that, um,
00:05:58
Speaker
that they're there out of choice. You know, there's quite a strong feminist kind of thread to some of this that see this as like a liberation of of women's rights um to to work in particular ways. And there are others saying, no, this is exploitation and, you know, that ought to be stopped and eradicated. Like in terms of the work and the people, the women that you've met, are you able to share with us just some of the stories that that put them on the streets in the first place and and why they're there?
00:06:25
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Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's helpful to recognize that every person has choices in their life, but not everyone has the same choices available to them. And so what what I see time and time again is that the women that I meet on the streets are women who have grown up in either abusive households or in the care system or a bit of both. um And often, um they come from cycles of disadvantage um in a lot of ways. So there's often a lot of poverty and a lot of substance misuse in the generations above them. um And that, you know, there's
00:07:14
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these issues can become entrenched. um And so what happens is, if they've been in care, so they've not had their own family, which is obviously we were all built to exist in families, and or where, you know, they've, their family, they've been with them, but they've been mistreated, then that kind of trauma repeats itself throughout their lives. So by the time they're a teenager, they're getting in relationships that are harmful to them. um
00:07:47
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And, you know, as they grow up, cycles of abuse and and brokenness just continue throughout their lives. And I just see this picture of repeated trauma so that by the time they're maybe 16,
00:08:04
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they already have substance misuse difficulties um because they're trying to cope with the trauma that they've faced.
Role of Evangelism in Breaking Cycles
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And so i guess what I see is not a bunch of people who have had a great start in life deciding that this is a great way to make money, but instead women with a broken sense of identity, with um intense isolation trauma,
00:08:33
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Yeah, just repeated trauma, trying to cope the best that they can and stuck now in a cycle where, you know, what went before them in the generations above them is now repeating itself and their own children are in care. And it just becomes this big cycle.
00:08:53
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It's a broken world, isn't it? And not everyone is born into homes where they're cared for the way they should be. And I guess that's what I see over and over again. Thank you. Yeah, such such important work. And as you say, communicating things that that may not have been heard at all, such so important in that in that space. and One thing I wondered is is, to what degree your work is evangelistic? and i And I say that because some people would consider caring for people in itself intrinsically evangelistic, but other people might say, oh no, actually, we share the gospel and that is evangelism. I wondered if you could say a little bit about how you work with um the the women that you've been speaking about?
00:09:36
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Yeah. Well, I think what I recognize is that Jesus is the only way to freedom for the women that I support. I mean, there's so many negative factors going on at once. I'm so...
00:09:53
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You know, you can try dealing with the mental health difficulties, the physical health difficulties, the substance misuse, the homelessness. You can try and tackle each problem.
00:10:04
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But without Jesus, you're just going to get nowhere. It's just the most difficult thing to try and break those cycles. Jesus feels like the only way to me. And so...
00:10:18
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I guess where we come with gentleness, we also come with an authority of we believe in the God who is able to break these entrenched cycles and to change.
00:10:33
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who is able to do more than we ever could. And so we walk in that authority and we go into these places. When we go out on outreach, we're stepping into spiritually dark places. There is a lot of dark and broken stuff happening on those streets.
00:10:51
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But when we go out, we carry the light of God with us. And so We offer prayer to pretty much every woman that we meet on outreach. and We always offer prayer. And often what I've found is where if I offered prayer to, i don't know, um one of my neighbours or something,
00:11:16
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there would be a real awkwardness potentially with that because there's like this sense of why would I want you to pray for me? Not always. And that's why this podcast is great. But that there can be a little bit of a why do I need God? um Whereas with the women that I meet, they already know they need God because things have gotten to that point where they're like,
00:11:43
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I'm at the end
Impact Stories and God's Pursuit
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of myself. i If I had any choice as to where to be, i wouldn't be here. I'm at the end of myself. And so when we offer prayer, often it's met with, yes, please, can you pray for my safety? Or please, can you pray for my kids who often aren't in their own care? And there's there's a ah desperation for God. And so...
00:12:09
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We don't necessarily come telling them the gospel start to finish, but we come and we lay hands on the women in prayer if they allow us to, and we speak words of life over them. And so when we pray, we we usually start with, thank you, Lord, that this is your daughter, who you love, who you created for a purpose. and Thank you that... and yeah, that you have good plans for her. And so we'll go through all of that. um
00:12:42
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And then we'll we'll pray for maybe what she's asked us to pray for. and So we we carry Jesus in our prayers and we allow his power to work when we're out on the streets. And then we always have bibles in the car and things like that and often someone will point and go what's that is that a bible can i have one and so we really don't need to push the faith stuff on anyone there's just a real openness to god on the streets
00:13:15
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Hi, it's Gavin from Solas here. We hope that you are enjoying today's discussion about evangelism. But did you know that Solas also produces a wide range of digital resources to help you share the gospel in the online spaces you inhabit?
00:13:27
Speaker
Short Reels, one-minute shorts for Instagram and Snapchat, delivering the gospel helpfully and in tune with the way that people want to receive it today. five-minute short answer videos, perfect for Facebook and online blogs and church websites and more. And it's all there for you to use at our website. Come and have a look at solas-cpc.org.
00:13:48
Speaker
And now, back to the program. Yeah, Kayleigh, thank you so much. Do you have any like particular stories of how people have been impacted by your ministry? I mean, insofar as you're able to share details, we'd love to hear about some of those stories of transformation.
00:14:04
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And I think, firstly, what's important to note is that these are all stories that are not yet finished. And, you know, there's no women that I've signed off as being helped, sorted, everything's fine now, handed them over.
00:14:21
Speaker
You know, these are women that I've been working with for a few years and will continue to. And, and yeah, God's at work every day in their lives in the slow ways and and sometimes in the fast ways. But I guess the person that comes to mind is and there was a woman who and years ago knew Embrace in Coventry when we only existed in Coventry and and she would see us on outreach. um And then she had a really highly traumatic incident that happened. and
00:14:55
Speaker
And I guess to, to, put it vaguely, she was kidnapped and some really horrible things happened within that. And she was then moved to Birmingham, ah highly traumatised, highly like, I don't know, having experienced some of the worst of life and was kind of just plopped somewhere in Birmingham um with very little support. And Then one Christmas, when we first started, literally just started offering Embrace support in Birmingham, we were doing Christmas gifts. um And so people were kind of referring people in for our in for our Christmas gifts and... and
00:15:42
Speaker
yeah, we we had all these different women we were going to see and and we were given this this woman. and And so we went and we we showed up at her accommodation where she was staying and she looked down at the bag that we gave her was all her Christmas gifts were in and it said, this Christmas, you are loved. And then it had the Embrace logo on it. And she said, oh, Embrace, i know Embrace. And I said, I'm not sure you do, we've only just got here and I've never met you. And she said, no, no.
00:16:22
Speaker
Years ago, I i knew Embrace in Coventry. and And so we'd been kind of led back into her life. This was like 10 years later. And we kind of showed up back in her life. And and this was a woman who...
00:16:40
Speaker
was then, you know, still entrenched in the lifestyle and everything. And so we've been supporting her over the years. But there's been like several incidents where we've shown up at our house just out of the blue, like, oh, we've got an Easter egg for you. Or, oh, we're just checking in with a food parcel to see how you're doing. And we found her in the midst of a crisis and we've just shown up at the exact time when she needed help. So for example, one time we showed up and she couldn't keep her eyes open and she felt really unwell and we realised she was concussed. um
00:17:19
Speaker
And um we if we hadn't shown up, we don't know if anyone would have found that. And so we just showed up on this day after a horrible attack. She'd ended up concussed. We took her to the hospital and we were able to get her the care she needs. And this is several times this has happened with this woman.
00:17:43
Speaker
And i just started to get this sense of like, we just keep showing up back in your life again and again at the exact right moments where you need help.
00:17:55
Speaker
And i just have this sense of God is chasing after you. And yeah, your story's not done yet. We've still got a long way to go But you know, that sense of God pursuing someone and and i And I feel that over all the women that I know.
Church's Role in Supporting Marginalized Women
00:18:15
Speaker
It's just adjust the sense of God is pursuing these women because they're his daughters, because he loves them and he's not going to give up on them. So I guess that's one story that shows the way that God weaves us into these women's lives to to show up in their moments of crisis.
00:18:36
Speaker
Thank you. And yeah, and it's as you say, it's a reminder of you're seeing someone at ah a certain point in their journey. And that's that's always really um yeah important to to understand. And yeah as you say, God is working in that that process. That's yeah it's really um a good reminder of of where we see people is not where God sees them. And obviously we have our perspective at the moment. and One thing I found very encouraging, i I used to work as a supporter for those affected by modern slavery.
00:19:05
Speaker
and One thing that i found very encouraging is that that there were lots of Christians in the field, and and in fact actually covering quite a few of the gaps actually that that you know in what social services was providing, so sort of doing some of the other areas um that that were needed for people.
00:19:22
Speaker
um I would wondered whether you thought the church was doing enough to help. And I know the church is a general term. And are are we are we noticing the need enough? Yeah, I would say that I am aware of and lot things.
00:19:38
Speaker
ah areas in the country that are covered by a small Christian charity faithfully praying and serving these women embraces not the only Christian charity doing this work ah and thank goodness for that and but I would say probably where the gap is is people generally within the church not even really potentially recognizing that these women exist and that this is happening and that's not just within the church that's society in general um I think people maybe sometimes drive past someone and think oh is are they selling sex or you know they might have a moment like that but really then you would just go on with your day and and so it's
00:20:28
Speaker
I guess it's, are we praying for these women who are, you know, in probably, in in from what I've seen, as far as it goes in this country, in the worst state that you could possibly be in, in this country.
00:20:45
Speaker
And I would say there's other people in that as well, but it it doesn't get much worse than it does for these women in this country. And so are we recognizing
Call to Action for Christians
00:20:55
Speaker
that? Are we praying for these women? Are we looking for opportunities to serve the people? on the very margins of our city? Or are we like noticing and then carrying on or not even seeing it and so believing that these dark corners of our cities don't exist because they do, sadly.
00:21:18
Speaker
and You mentioned another podcast that often you find that Christians are reluctant to kind of leave their own comfort zones and step out, you know, boldly in faith and beyond kind of the the ways in which they're used to to serving and being. um how would you How would you encourage Christians to do that more? And are there particular ways in which we can do that?
00:21:39
Speaker
Yeah. And I think that it's like... It's simpler to build a life where you everything is predictable or you youre not even that we can predict anything, but it can have we can have this kind of self-protection mindset. And you kind of understand that if people don't know Jesus, but we don't need to self-protect because he's our protector. And so we don't live in this world, like how can I make my life the best it can be? We live with this mindset of
00:22:13
Speaker
How can I serve you, God? How can i live like you did? And so i guess I guess my heart has just been really stirred to always say to God, you know, where do you want me to go? what do you want me to do? And when I've had that heart, God has always responded. And so I'm not under any illusion that everyone should be coming on outreach to women who sell sex on the streets because they're That would be overwhelming for little charities like mine. We don't need everyone.
00:22:48
Speaker
But everyone has a calling to love people and the people that other people maybe don't want to love or aren't noticing.
00:23:00
Speaker
I think that's everyone's mission. And so I think all of us have a responsibility to say to God, this is my life.
00:23:11
Speaker
use it. Like i'm I'm giving you my life. I'm giving you my safety. I'm giving you my bubble. And I'm saying, show me where to go. and and he'll answer. Like, I did not think that this would be my job ever. I was a youth worker. Like I was a volunteer for embrace, but I was also a youth worker and that was great. And it was so fun. And then all of a sudden God was like, no embrace. Like,
00:23:40
Speaker
We need it in Birmingham and we need to see this happen. And and I want you to do it. And I was like, really, God? Like, I'm not sure I've got it in me.
00:23:51
Speaker
But if he calls you to do something, he will equip you. And he will give you all that you need. And you will have a lot of days where you say, God, I don't know how to do today. And then he'll just show up for you over and over again. And he'll strengthen you. And I think that's the most exciting, beautiful life to live and way better than our little bubbles that we try and stay in. So I guess I would encourage everyone to pray that prayer.
00:24:20
Speaker
Yes, I was very struck by what you said about obviously God working through our weaknesses, his strength coming through that, and as well as us needing to be interruptible and not just sort of in our own tunnel visions, following our own lives, but actually being open to where God is leading us.
00:24:39
Speaker
um I wondered if you could just say a little bit to someone who might be inspired by listening to what you are saying um and you know they might have a real heart for the marginalized. um what What suggestions would you have for someone who wants to get involved in ministry and in this kind of way?
00:25:00
Speaker
Gosh, um I don't know if I do because God's always... God's always been the one who has shown me what he wants me to do. So so when I found out about Embrace, then that was when I was 14, like I said, and then I had five years where I didn't hear about it. And then when I was 19, one of my friends got a job for Embrace and I was like, oh, I need to volunteer. And so I guess my answer is,
00:25:34
Speaker
Asking God and then being attentive to opportunities that come up or being attentive to the thing that's breaking in your heart of, yeah, maybe it is women who sell sex on the streets. Maybe it's something else, but being attentive to what breaks your heart, what makes you weep when you come before God. And then, i don't know, put the work in, do your research, talk to people, see what's around And you don't need to like sign up straight away. Often you can just get a bit of information. You can talk to someone. If you're in Birmingham, you can talk to me about Embrace. it It's being proactive, but it's also...
00:26:16
Speaker
following what's on your heart specifically, I guess. and And everyone's got that different, or maybe there's a couple things, or maybe you don't know what that is yet. And that's the first prayer is what specifically breaks my heart. and Yeah, I don't know.
00:26:34
Speaker
that answer the question? Thank you. No, that's great. It it certainly does. Thank you. and Could you tell us where we can find out more about Embrace? We will put the details down on on this podcast, but where where can we find out more about what you're up to?
00:26:51
Speaker
Yeah, so so we have a brand new newsletter, which we had one and now we have a new one. So this is the best way now probably of finding out like all the different ways you can get involved. So we've got like a prayer group. We've got, and you could join the volunteer team if you're based in Birmingham. um You could give,
00:27:18
Speaker
We've got different opportunities to get involved throughout the year and by signing up you get all of that information.
Conclusion and Future Encouragements
00:27:26
Speaker
Well, thank you so much again, Kayleigh, for being with us. I think the message that really comes across from what you're saying for me is just actually the need for all of us just to be more attentive to God and not to be in our own bubbles and perhaps to step out in faith. When you were speaking, actually, it reminded me of a book of Simon Gilbo, who we featured on the show in the past. And it's very encouraging to discuss
00:27:50
Speaker
go for it in our faith. And a bit like you've said, actually, just being aware of how God might be prompting us and also actually just sort of lifting our heads up, looking around and being more aware of others and perhaps how we might reach out to them.
00:28:06
Speaker
So thank you again for listening. do tune in again in a couple of weeks for another inspiring guest on the Pep Talk show from Solas. Thank you for listening.