Faith in action
SAFER Resource for your church
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 moreCommon Grace was formed out of an ardent belief that ‘Jesus’ justice on earth is embodied by his people as we learn to follow Jesus’ ways’.
In other words, when we yield our lives in obedience to Christ, the call to seek after justice and peace on earth becomes a foundational part of living out that obedience.
We see this desire for justice and peace worked out in the divine person of Jesus Christ; in his life, death and resurrection. In his life, as a Jew living in ancient Rome, Jesus taught from the receiving end of systemic violence. He taught how to creatively resist violence without repaying it in kind, and made a point of overturning and subverting the sexism and misogyny that characterised ancient Jewish (and Roman) society. His tangible, practical concern for the healing of women is embodied in his response to a woman stricken by bleeding, a condition which would have likely left her isolated and powerless in that societal context.
Knowing this, we believe that the cross is good news for both victims and perpetrators of domestic violence. It does not facilitate us moving past or covering-up the fact of domestic violence under the injunction to ‘forgive’ or to ‘turn the other cheek’. Instead, Jesus’ death exposes domestic violence, and condemns it in the strongest possible terms. The cry of the victim for empathy and justice is echoed in Jesus’ cry at the monstrosity of sin he took upon himself – ‘Father, why have you forsaken me?’. And yet the resurrection changes everything. Our Lord Jesus is raised to new life and his life eternal is freely given to us all, both victims and perpetrators alike. It is our prayer that the reality of the Lord Jesus' transformative love will shape all we seek to do as we work in this field.
If you’d like to read more on this, check out:
- Sermon: The Church and Family and Domestic Violence - Rev. Michael Paget St. Barnabas Anglican Church Broadway.
- ‘Worship to end Domestic Violence’- a short liturgy created by the World Council of Churches, a great resource for personal devotion, bible studies or church services.
- ‘For Christians who missed the memo: The Bible abhors all domestic abuse’ – Sandy Grant, 4/3/2015
- ‘The church must confront domestic abuse’ – John Dickson and Natasha Moore, 12/3/15
- The Bible & family and domestic violence - produced by the Newcastle Anglican Social Justice Taskforce
