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Sign up to join our 2026 Domestic Violence Prevention Month Webinar exploring healing after leaving domestic violence and what Christian pathways to recovery can look like.
Read moreOur Family & Domestic Violence Team came together in late 2015. Find out more about them here!
The Domestic Violence Justice Campaign Team is made up of Erica Hamence, Associate Minister at St Barnabas' Broadway, Natalie Williams, a senior policy advisor with the NSW Government, Rachel Neary, Domestic Violence Educator at Alice Springs Women's Shelter, and Andy Abeyasekera, a ministry trainee at St. Swithun's Anglican Church Pymble. Read more below.


Erica Hamence
Erica is the Associate Minister focusing on discipleship and campus ministries at St Barnabas' Anglican Church, Broadway in Inner Sydney where she oversees discipleship and campus ministries. Erica also leads Common Grace's Family & Domestic Violence Team.
Rachel Neary
Rachel is a Domestic Violence Educator at Alice Springs Women's Shelter who comes from a background in international development, social work and activism. Rachel is also a mother of three and a member of the John Flynn Memorial Church.
Natalie Williams
Natalie is a social policy advisor with a professional background in law, advocacy, and public relations. Ministry-wise she previously worked with Baptist agencies Global Interaction, Hopestreet and BaptistCare NSW.
Natalie is married to Ben, is mother to baby Maxine and step-mother to Amos and Evie. She lives in Sydney’s inner west and is part of Newtown Mission - a diverse faith community passionate about following Jesus and living alongside the vulnerable and marginalised. She really hates the word “awesome”.
Andy Abeyasekera
Andy is a ministry trainee at St. Swithun's Anglican Church Pymble, where she works in young adult and women's ministry. She is passionate about exploring issues of gender, and hopes to help equip Christians to respond faithfully and radically to the issue of family violence.
Andy is studying Theology at Youthworks College, after completing a Bachelor of Political, Economic, and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney. She currently lives in Sydney's inner-west, and is quite content to explore its cafes and graffiti-clad back-alleys for the rest of her life.
SAFER is a brand new online resource produced to help churches support and prioritise victims of domestic and family violence, and know how to deal with perpetrators.
Read moreLet your loving generosity be a gift of safety and inclusion for women. Your support will help pursue a world where all households and churches are places of love, safety and healing.
Make a donationThe following Domestic and Family Violence support services are available:
Ellaina Welsman, Common Grace’s Domestic and Family Violence Justice Lead, speaks with Dr Rosie Clare Shorter and Dr Erin Hutton about their research on Reading the Bible After Violence.
Ellaina Welsman, Common Grace's Community Engagement Manager, and Domestic and Family Violence Justice Coordinator, reflects on the stories we tell about gender and why they matter.
Ellaina Welsman reflects on raising a boy, the church's role to uphold safety, and challenge harmful gender stereotypes.
We are thrilled to announce the appointment of Ellaina Welsman as the new Domestic and Family Violence Justice Coordinator. Ellaina is deeply passionate about seeing churches commit to and make steps towards ending violence against women.