The issue of domestic violence should be placed higher on church agendas, said delegates representing 15 Christian denominations at an international, inter-faith meeting held in Dundee Scotland, last month.  Karen Flowers, associate family ministries director of the Seventh-day Adventist world church, attended the meeting, along with Adventist counselor Helen Pearson, from Britain.

Delegates came from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, North and Central America, and the Caribbean. They shared resources and developed nine principles of action intended to raise awareness of the issue, to encourage churches to develop effective programs for helping victims, and to help deal with the broader problems involved.

“Every church congregation can play a vital role in offering practical support to those experiencing violence in the family,” says Flowers. “In particular, the church is in the best position to respond to the spiritual issues confronting victims of faith and their families.”

The Adventist Church has been very forthright in its position statements about the incompatibility of violence with Christian principles, adds Flowers. The family ministries department has developed a body of resources to assist pastors and church leaders in breaking silence in the local church, offering practical help to victims and families in crisis, connecting with the wider network of professionals needed to adequately address the problem, and offering support to victims as they confront the spiritual issues which arise in the wake of violence and abuse.

“We are pleased to share these resources both with other faith groups and with the wider community,” says Flowers.

Flowers notes that violence within families should not be cast as “just a women’s issue,” even though the overwhelming majority of victims are women and children. “Abuse and violence in the home is a multi-faceted social issue,” she says, “which encompasses not just the victim, but the perpetrator, other family members, and key institutions, like schools and churches.”

Read the Adventist Church’s official statement on violence in the family at www.adventist.org/beliefs/main_stat12.html.