By Liz Mosbo VerHage, Associate Pastor | Global & Local Ministries, Quest Church
Recent conversations within our ministerium, our church and nation more broadly, remind me again of the enormous weight of responsibility, and also the privilege that we as pastors have in our congregations, to steward well the care and healing and prevention of victims/survivors of sexual assault/abuse. The church doesn’t have a good reputation around this either; I often hear stories of how ill-informed church leaders have made abuse worse for folks due to teaching bad theology, prescribing thin conceptions of forgiveness, or just exhibiting a general unpreparedness and lack of commitment to help walk those harmed out of pain and into full healing. At the same time we are in one of the few positions where we may either be able to observe, or be told directly, about abuse/assault.
To steward this leadership space better we need a deeper theology that informs practical habits of teaching, preaching, modeling, and equipping the Body with a culture of awareness, prevention, truth-telling, lifting of shame, and protecting the vulnerable and those with less voice or power. That’s also why we have to name gender and race and ethnic and national and other power imbalances. They all impact who is seen or ignored, whose abuse or assault gets believed, who gets resources and help to recover, who gets held accountable – or who is never questioned. Far more foundational than any political leanings we may hold, as pastors we must see the truth that many within the church, including those within “Christian” marriages, experience sexual assault and abuse, and that we are not always well equipped to respond or prevent this reality well. Especially for our churches who have only male pastors, we also need to name that they face a very real limitation when it comes to being able to safely encourage reporting, healing, or addressing this for many women who suffer. Who is God bringing in your midst to help fill that gap?
October is Domestic Violence Prevention Month, and we have great resources from AVA at our disposal to invest in ourselves, our staff and our lay leadership around this reality. We also each likely have experts, survivors, or others with God-given wisdom in our local contexts who could help teach, speak to, and move our churches down the road around this issue if we empower and enable their leadership. So pastors, I am praying that this month we can each take another step (or 5!) toward stewarding our particular role in advocating, protecting, healing, teaching, and especially preventing sexual assault and abuse in our churches. At our church we are putting up new domestic violence resources on our website this month and also following up on a staff AVA training we recently did – that is my step one.
I am so thankful for all of you who have already been trusted voices, a safe place, and an advocate for survivors of sexual assault/abuse – the church needs you!
[Click Here] to see the Covenant Companion article, “Domestic Violence Awareness Month Activities Suggested” for a bunch of ideas on promoting domestic violence awareness.