Bringing Hope

It seems strange to me that it took a message from the US to tell me about a conference taking place in Colchester! But such is life.

The conference is called 'Bringing Hope', and aims to help Christians understand more about domestic violence and support those who are experiencing it. It's long amazed me that much of the church seems oblivious of something which affects one in four women during their lifetime - and which is as common inside the church as outside it.

This important subject has long been one of my passions, and after working as a volunteer on Women's Aid's national helpline and researching the subject, I wrote a Grove booklet in 1994, entitled Home is Where the Hurt is. The booklet went out of print several years ago, but the text is available on CPAS' website here.

According to the conference literature, Bringing Hope aims to launch a new alliance called Restored. (What it's an alliance of, I'm not entirely clear.)

Over the last 15 or so years there have been a number of church initiatives, but none seem to have brought this subject to wide attention. The Church of England debate and report were excellent - but probably not widely read. The Baptists and some other denominations are well served with information, yet this does not appear to have influenced the agenda of most churches.

Perhaps this will make a difference, to a new generation of Christians.