Training one religious leader and one church member in each church on responding well to domestic abuse is one of our key recommendations from our research with churchgoers in north-west England (www.restoredrelationships.org/cumbriaresearch). We recommend that the lay person is identified publicly as the church’s domestic abuse ‘champion’, enabling people to seek them out if they want to disclose experiencing abuse, and making sure that the task of supporting a victim or survivor is not just the responsibility of religious leaders. In the area studied, Cumbria, there was an excellent Domestic Violence Awareness programme of training days run jointly by ecumenical body Churches Together in Cumbria (representing the majority of local churches) and a domestic abuse support service. Some of those trained were later identified as domestic abuse ‘champions’. The training proved effective: those attending churches where someone had attended been trained to respond appropriately to domestic abuse were more likely to be aware that of people in their church who had experienced domestic abuse, and more likely to be aware of support services they could refer victims to. Church members, when asked how the church could improve its domestic abuse work, often said that someone from the church should be trained. As an Anglican woman commented: “I really don’t feel ministers have any more time to dedicate to this which is why a bank of central church leaders (lay) like myself could train and then offer prayer and guidance in a totally non-judgmental way”.
Principles to help build bridges
Strategies to help build bridges
Questions to ask yourself:
(if you work in a community-based agency)
Questions to ask yourself:
(if you are a religious leader)
Kristin Aune, Coventry University