VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 2/4/11)—American Baptist Women’s Ministries will award up to seventeen $500 scholarships to persons from the U.S. and Puerto Rico to attend the International Christian Alliance on Prostitution Global Conference on May 22-27, 2011, at the Green Lake Conference Center, Green Lake, Wisconsin.

Eligible applicants for the scholarships will be women or men aged eighteen or over at the time of the conference who are involved in a ministry to women and men in prostitution, exploring the issue, sensing God’s call to such a ministry, or seeking support; or missionaries, staff, or volunteers of organizations engaged in this issue or seeking further resources. Applicants must also be willing to share what they have learned with others upon their return from the conference.

American Baptist Women’s Ministries has raised over $480,000 through its “Break the Chains: Slavery in the 21st Century” national mission project. After distributing twenty grants since 2007 to organizations engaged in the abolition of sex trafficking, AB Women’s Ministries is using remaining funds to offer scholarships for the International Christian Alliance on Prostitution Global Conference in an effort to continue to inspire and educate women and men on this issue. (The ICAP Global Conference is co-sponsored by the International Christian Alliance on Prostitution and Green Lake Conference Center.)

Virginia Holmstrom, executive director for AB Women’s Ministries, noted, “The unity and energy of American Baptist women around our ‘Break the Chains’ mission project was so evident when the monetary contributions kept coming even after the final set of grants had been awarded last September. I applaud our Break the Chains task group for using the residual funds for conference scholarships. Once again, we’re releasing potential for even more new ministries to result from participation in this one-of-a-kind conference.” According to Holmstrom, the “Break the Chains” initiative and project was inspired in large part by the work of International Ministries’ Global Consultant Lauran Bethell and the first Christian conference on prostitution ministry that Bethell led in 2004 at Green Lake. “In a sense, we’ve come full circle by empowering others to attend the conference this year and hear God’s call to break the chains of sexual exploitation.”

For more information or to apply for a scholarship, download the scholarship application forms from the AB Women’s Ministries website at www.abwmbreakthechains.org/scholarships.

American Baptist Churches is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with 5,500 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.