violence
many ‘Love Brockley’ ministries including free therapy for families with children with additional needs, subsidised professional dance classes, support for those suffering from domestic violence, parenting support, recovery from addiction and practical help getting back into employment.
Women experience oppression at every stage of their lives: in some countries foetuses are aborted because of their sex; girls don’t get the same medical care as their brothers; girls and young women are kidnapped and trafficked as sex slaves every day; and globally about one in three women (approximately 840 million people) experience physical or sexual intimate violence in their lifetime, according to the World Health Organization.
This does not mean that I believe ‘anything goes.’ There is much cruelty and exploitation of people in our society and we, as the Church, should be calling out promiscuity, unfaithfulness and domestic violence – and honouring relationships that are committed, faithful and caring, whether they are between people of the opposite sex, the same sex or non-binary.
Amongst them a particular place is held by the historic Churches of Israel and Palestine, the “living stones” of the Holy Land, who face ever-increasing violence, and even the threat of extinction, in the land where Christianity began.
I now sit on the Appeal Tribunal of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, advise charitable organisations and hospitals, and serve on the North Yorkshire Chief Constable's Advisory Panel and on the Violence Against Women and Girls Whole System Group.
This commitment is rooted in the Church of England’s Five Marks of Mission: to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom; to teach, baptise and nurture new believers; to respond to human need by loving service; to transform unjust structures, challenge violence and pursue peace and reconciliation; and to safeguard the integrity of creation.
To transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation Growing up in apartheid South Africa, attending an Anglican school, I learned from an early age to engage in transformation.
The national church should do more to support and resource this as well as speaking into key debates at national level - for example to explain why a Christian approach to immigration leads us to be welcoming of those who are fleeing violence and persecution.
During the period from 2010 to 2018, I periodically visited the Church of Uganda Hospital at Kagando as a visiting physician including during the violence there in 2016.
Rebuilding systemic trust across our dioceses requires transparency and a commitment to challenge violence of every kind.
I partnered with our Local High Sherrif and Hull HMP to develop a touring artwork supporting the White Ribbon Campaign to end violence against women and girls.
The persecuted Church: I want the Church of England to remember, pray for and stand with Christians and churches globally facing pressure, violence or discrimination because of their faith.
• I am a survivor of domestic violence and abuse in the church.
For the past 35 years I have been involved in Christian ministry – teaching and training in local churches around the world, conducting research and advocacy connected with gender-based violence in countries where Christians are persecuted, and recently ordained in the Diocese in Europe, serving chaplaincies in France. o I moved to France from the US in 1990 with a heart for missions. o My British husband Geoff and I married in 1991; he’s been churchwarden in Versailles for the past 10 years. o Europe is home - we raised our daughter here; she and our new Dutch son-in-law now live in the Netherlands.
I think it was because my work with an army wife who’d been subjected to domestic violence had been noticed.
PA uses no violence on people or animals.
I believe in a faith-based and community-led approach to tackling poverty, injustice and violence, prayer and faith in action, providing support and love free of judgement.
To speak out on the most pressing issues of the day from climate catastrophe, war, famine, disease, human trafficking, domestic violence, homelessness, the epidemic of drug and alcohol dependency that blights so many lives, to a skewed form of market capitalism that, while benefitting some, disadvantaged many others and laid waste to once thriving industrial communities; to the terrifying consequences of power, wealth and influence being concentrated in the hands of a small clique of avaricious, egotistical, narcissistic monopolists in the technology industry, who ally themselves to equally egotistical politicians enabling them to further concentrate power in their own hands and institutions at the expense of the ordinary citizen, while at the same time commodifying what it means to be human by reducing each person to datasets to be leveraged for profit or traded in some grotesque form of digital slavery.
It has given me a real insight into the challenges faced by our young people growing up on estates, at risk of poverty and violence – particularly through gangs and drugs.
After that I became International Relations Secretary for Quaker Peace & Service, managing two offices, one in London and the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) in Geneva, working with "decision makers and policy shapers" to address issues of peace making and peace building in areas affected by armed conflict; addressing the systemic causes of violence at a global level; and trying to create a culture of peace with justice based on nonviolent change.
the sexualisation of children, domestic violence and family wellbeing.
Alongside others, some of our work included, outreach to the homeless and vulnerable, work with women in the sex industry and those experiencing gender-based violence, children and families, youth, students, prisons, providing food banks, support for relationships and the Alpha Course.
Our Southwark Vision is clear that we want growing churches, prayerful and informed Christians, justice and peace built up, violence challenged, and a church for all which reflects our diverse community in membership and leadership.
• Restored, a Christian charity working to raise awareness of violence against women / domestic
● I have a BSc in Psychology and an MA in Global Development with International Law & Relations. ● I began my career working with refugee families abroad before delivering therapeutic interventions in psychiatric hospitals with perpetrators of gender based violence. ● Based on personal experiences, I founded Kind To Mind to reduce the cultural and systemic contributors to gender based illness and have spoken on these issues at the European Parliament and the World Health Organisation.