1 / 12

Tackling Domestic Abuse: Perspectives and Practices in UK Pentecostal Churches

This research explores how Pentecostal ministers in the UK address domestic abuse within their congregations, examining awareness, attitudes, and responses. It investigates the impact of traditional gender roles and interpretations of scripture on support and assistance for victims. The research includes surveys, statistical analysis, focus groups, and interviews with ministers and Pentecostal women who have experienced domestic abuse.

rosemaryc
Download Presentation

Tackling Domestic Abuse: Perspectives and Practices in UK Pentecostal Churches

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Denise Bennett22nd February 2019 The Church and Domestic Abuse: Perspectives and Process for Tackling Domestic Abuse, Within Biblically and Theologically Conservative Pentecostal Churches in the UK How do Pentecostal Ministers in the UK deal with Domestic Abuse within their own congregations?

  2. Me • Family • Education • Employment Large County Court, Local Women’s Aid Group, County Domestic Abuse Forum

  3. What ? • Pentecostal Ministers awareness of and attitudes towards domestic abuse, primarily against women, by a partner or former partner • What is happening at present within the Pentecostal movement in relation to domestic abuse. • An overview of the approach used historically across denominations as this may illuminate current practice.

  4. Why? “27.1% of women and 13.2% of men reported being a victim of any domestic abuse since the age of 16, equivalent to an estimated 4.5 million female victims and 2.2 million male victims aged 16 to 59” 1

  5. Why ?2

  6. Why? • Mandy’s Story • Women don’t always get the support and understanding that they need from ‘The Church’3 • Studies from around the world show a reticence among the clergy in tackling the issue of domestic abuse, in both their preaching and in the practical assistance they offer to women who disclose such abuse to them,4 however they have not investigated why this might be the case.

  7. Why? • Pentecostal denominations are under represented in the research5 • 80% of Pentecostal respondents endorse the idea of ‘male headship’ and traditional gender roles within the church and family;6 which has been identified as a risk factor for domestic abuse 7 • Once the scale of the problem within the Pentecostal movement and the current responses to it have been identified; awareness raising and training programs, both for pastors and congregations, can be offered appropriately.

  8. The main questions to be addressed • What policies and procedures are in place for Pastors to follow when they encounter domestic abuse within their congregation? • Is domestic abuse specifically addressed within Pentecostal ministry training programs? • What working definitions of domestic abuse are Pastors using and what approaches do they use to support victims? • What does this look like from the woman’s perspective?

  9. The main questions to be addressed • Does the traditional Christian perspective of the role of women, specifically in the Pentecostal tradition, affect the support they are offered? • How has the interpretation of certain scriptures affected the perception of abusive behaviours towards women? • Is there a difference in attitudes towards abuse within marriage and that of co-habiting couples?

  10. How? • an initial survey of Pentecostal Pastors using both quantitative and qualitative questions. • analysis of external statistics • Focus groups – with Pastors • In-depth Interviews - with Pentecostal women who have experienced domestic abuse

  11. References 1 ONS (2018a) Domestic Abuse: findings from the Crime Survey for England and Wales: year ending March 2017, London: Office for National Statistics 2 Aune, Kristin & Barnes, Rebecca (2018) In Churches Too: Church Responses to Domestic Abuse – A case study of Cumbria, Coventry: Coventry University and Leicester: University of Leicester. 3 Miles, Al. Domestic Violence. 1st ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000. Nason-Clark, N. (1997)The Battered Wife: How Christians Confront Family Violence. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 4 Calderon-Carranza M.R; Bravo, R.C; Rivas, A; Perez, R & Vergara F (2014) Within the Four Walls – Evangelicals and Domestic Violence In Peru, Lima, Paz y Esperanza Internacional Orr MacDonald, L. – Out of the Shadows: Christianity and Violence against Women in Scotland (Edinburgh: Centre for Theology and Public Issues – 2000) Sojourners & IMA World Health, Broken Silence: A Call for Churches to Speak Out, (June 2014) Sojourners & IMA World Health, Domestic and Gender-Based Violence: Pastors’ Attitudes and Actions (2018) 5 Aune, Kristin & Barnes, Rebecca (2018) ibid Evangelical Alliance : 21st Century evangelicals – A snapshot of the beliefs and habits of evangelical Christians in the UK – Spring 2012. How’s the Family? Research by the Evangelical Alliance www.eauk.org/snapshot 6 Evangelical Alliance 2012 ibid 7Tracey, S. Patriarchy and Domestic Violence: Challenging common Misconceptions. Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 50 (3) pp 580-583 (2007)

  12. Thank you for listening • any questions? • Denise M Bennett • BSc(Hons)Open, MSc(SRM)Open, PGCE • 1626178@chester.ac.uk

More Related