Paper short abstract:

The paper critically reflects on the history of the 18th century Methodist movement in Britain and Southern Africa to offer new insights on how the Methodist Church of Southern African can involve itself in the fight against human trafficking in the 21 century.

Paper long abstract:

The paper aims to offer a brief historical account of the early Methodist Movement's involvement in Britain within the anti-slavery and labour movements of the late 18th century. Methodism then took root in other parts of world; thus this paper also seeks explore the involvement of early Southern African Wesleyan Missionaries and their role in advocating for the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Fundamentally, the aim of this inquiry is to draw insights from the past Methodist activism to offer fresh perspectives on how the Methodist Church of Southern Africa can best engage itself in providing services to support trafficked people, and in campaigns to end human-trafficking and modern slavery.