Good morning from beautiful Fiji. It’s Sunday morning and I’m about to head off to church, along with over half of the Fijian population.
A sobering fact is that 2 in 3 women sitting in church today will have been the victims of rape, assault, or some sort of abuse. Not to mention the male victims as well.
The inability to address these issues is the elephant in the church this morning. We carry on with our programs pretending that these issues don’t exist. We have ignored Ps 72:12 “deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who has no-one to help.”
As the church gathers today….
- Let’s call on all church leaders to acknowledge the extent of domestic abuse in the communities they seek to serve and in their church families.
- Let’s call on all Christians to understand that we should support victims of abuse in whatever ways we can – through prayer,
- practical help and professional advice.
- Let’s call on church leaders to acknowledge that some church teaching about abuse has been unhelpful and could in fact protect perpetrators.
- Let’s call on church leaders to speak up and preach about domestic abuse to make it clear that it is not acceptable in God’s kingdom and to model healthy, Godly relationships of mutual submission and respect of each other’s God-given talents.
- Let’s call for churches to speak out about abuse and not hide cases to protect the church’s reputation or the reputation of the leaders.
- Let’s call for all churches to treat all their flock equally, not preferring powerful male voices over children, the elderly or women.
- Let’s call for pastors to collaborate with professional and legal services in the community as well as pastoral ones, to stop domestic abuse.
(taken from Christian Network to end DV)
For the sake of future generations and the nation of Fiji can we please address the elephant in the church?