Hands of Hope

Yesterday, I had the honor to bring Bravery to a half-day seminar hosted by Hands of Hope. This was the first time I had attended an event focused on the Christian community. The seminar was given by Steven R. Tracy, Ph.D., author of “Mending the Soul: Understanding and Healing Abuse” and Founder of Mending the Soul Ministries - Professor of Theology and Ethics, Phoenix Seminary.

Steven was a pastor for 15 years and has extensive experience in dealing with families who suffer in domestic abuse situations. His presentation was backed by solid research on the subject of domestic violence (primarily focusing on marriage situations) in regards to the definition of domestic violence, understanding the abuser, and how the church should and should not respond. Unfortunately, he explained that studies show only 7% of people are willing to go to their pastor, clergy, bishop, minister, etc. to request help.

Furthermore, his research shows that people in the Christian communities have two top requests from their church leaders:
1. Believe the victims when they ask for help. Don't tell them to try harder to be a better wife.
2. Acknowledge the problem and address it in the congregation. Admit it happens and is not acceptable.

Dr. Tracy explained that these top priorities don't cost any money or take any extra people or resources to implement. This information proves how badly awareness is needed and that simply acknowledging and listening those who still suffer goes such a long away. He is on a crusade to teach others about this issue and how to help people in religious communities. Food for the soul.

I have a brother who was a church leader in his community for over five years. I adore him because he is sweet, quite innocent about worldly ways, genuinely wants to be good and help others, and laughs at my bad jokes; however, when we discussed how to handle a case of child abuse, I became quite distraught.

He was taught at the time of his new appointment that discoveries of domestic abuse were to be handled within the church. I argued with him that police authorities must be contacted to remove the child from the hostile environment and hold the abuser accountable. As much as he wanted to do the right thing, we disagreed on this issue. Even with "you could have blood on your hands if the child ends up dead" was not enough to sway him from apposing the church leaders' indoctrination.

A problem with many religious communities is the dichotomy of church law vs law of the land or legal law. Many devout followers put religious faith above worldly life for various reasons. Personally I don't see the reason why they can't work together (we'll save polygomy for another post). If either religious or legal practice fails to help, protect, and heal the victim of abuse, then they are not doing their job. I can't imagine that when I die, God would say to me, "Although you did not save that child from torture and death, thanks for saying your prayers."


Dr. Stephen Tracy (You can request Dr. Tracy to speak at your congregation. He also trains other facilitators to give seminars about domestic violence.)

Mending the Soul by Stephen R. Tracy

Hands of Hope

Some interesting reads:
Woman Submit! Christians & Domestic Violence
The Bible on Abuse & Violence