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Helping Victims of Abuse
Churches at opposite ends of the country help abused and assaulted women and children.
Good Night
Most shelters for domestic abuse victims are 85 percent full. In Indianapolis, The Salvation Army’s Shelter for Women and Children is currently at 116 percent, with people crowding into rooms and sleeping on air mattresses.
“The shelter needs significant additional funding to continue helping these abuse victims,” says Bethany Nelson. Nelson began volunteering with Salvation Army soon after moving to Indianapolis with her husband, Jake, in 2007 to plant Response Church; today the church coordinates a variety of activities for both the ladies and the kids in the shelter, and Nelson serves as a board member for the organization.
“I knew we needed to raise money for the shelter, but I also wanted our community to understand what life is like for its residents,” Nelson says. “Together we organized ‘A Night in Our City,’ an event with live music, games, food, and a silent auction that also educated people about this issue.”
The five Indianapolis-area churches that partnered to plant Response Church—Common Ground Christian, East 91st Street Christian, Kingsway Christian, Plainfield Christian, and Traders Point Christian—also provided money for expenses. Community members donated items for the silent auction and coordinated free TV and radio spots.
In addition to raising support, Nelson focused on tangible ways to express the scope of domestic abuse in the city. Buckets of crayons symbolized the 1,000 children affected each year in Indianapolis; 1,641 purple ribbons hung from a huge tree to symbolize the 1,641 women involved.
“There were so many ribbons it was hard to see the green of the tree!” Nelson says. “Purple is the color of domestic abuse because it’s the color of these ladies’ bruises. The tree was a powerful statement.”
The event raised almost $6,000 for the shelter, and Nelson plans to make it an annual event.
“Each month families from the suburbs visit downtown for other events and don’t realize that just a block or two away are shelters filled with women dealing with violence and sexual assault,” she says. “We want to raise awareness and support.”
http://responsechurch.com
Child Support
Although many Christians know about sex trafficking in other countries, fewer people realize hundreds of thousands of teenagers in major U.S. cities are also sexually exploited each day. Their captors recruit these children from malls and other public areas, physically and sexually abuse them, and force them to work as prostitutes.
“In Phoenix, the average child prostitute is 13 years old,” says Larrie Fraley, Mobilization Ministries pastor at Christ’s Church of the Valley. “It’s shocking, and the more you learn the more angry you become. So CCV is working with dozens of other churches across the city to put an end to this practice in Phoenix.”
The coalition of 28 churches has formed Streetlight Phoenix and developed a three-pronged strategy focusing on awareness, changing laws to protect children, and creating an after-care program to emotionally and physically heal children rescued from the streets. Fraley and other team members have built relationships with law enforcement agencies, researched methods other cities have implemented, and challenged churches to discuss the issue and collect love offerings for the cause.
“We hired Christian counselors and doctors who specialize in sexual abuse to design a comprehensive, Christ-centered healing program,” Fraley says. “These children have experienced unbelievable levels of trauma, and existing abuse recovery material will not address the repeated bondage and rape they’ve endured.”
The plan also includes development of six “safe houses” where small groups of children can safely recover. Streetlight is raising money and closing on the houses this fall.
“This is an issue no one argues with,” Fraley says. “Everyone wants to help these kids. We’ve created a weekly e-mail blast with prayer requests and updates and we’re already sending it to more than 2,000 people who have offered to help.”
http://streetlightphx.com
www.ccvonline.com
Jennifer Taylor, one of CHRISTIAN STANDARD's contributing editors, lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
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