Seven Campaign Against Abuse Transitions to enditnow
From News Release, August 20, 2015: Adventist Risk Management (ARM), the risk management company for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, is transitioning its child abuse prevention campaign to the enditnow campaign, led by the Women’s Ministries department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The move will enhance the resources provided by the enditnow campaign and expand its focus to children in distress. The transition will be completed this fall.
“We’re grateful that ARM is sharing its resources with us. This is a meaningful contribution to our mission to protect women and children around the world from abuse and neglect,” said Heather-Dawn Small, director of Women’s Ministries for the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. “It is a natural progression in our journey to reach not only women in trouble but their children as well.”
Launched in 2012, the Seven Campaign raised awareness about child abuse, including bullying, neglect, physical and sexual abuse. The transition comes as leaders at ARM felt enditnow would be a better platform to share preventive resources globally. enditnow is a well-known and established initiative that has called attention to the plight of women around the world who suffer in silence against physical and emotional abuse.
“We’ve seen that enditnow has impacted the lives of many women and we want this important focus to expand to children who are in danger,” said Bob Kyte, president of ARM. “Our mission is to encourage risk management and any way we can help other ministries of the Church protect the most vulnerable.”
To learn more about enditnow and its digital resources, visit www.enditnow.org. Also, to learn how to implement a campaign in a local congregation, go to www.slideshare.net/jive07/how-to-implement-the-enditnow-campaign.
How telling that the General Comference is actually affirming Women’s Ministries as an effective arm of the church, while simultaneously denying equal status to women pastors!
For years, Audray Johnson, the splendid Family Ministries Secretary of the South Eastern California Conference, has proclaimed the endemic problem of child abuse, sexual molestation and incest in Adventist congregations.
She contends that the more conservative and fundamentalist the families are, the higher the incidence of incest.
Another senior women pastor for whom I have the greatest respect, has informed me of another politically incorrect fact: that spousal abuse (wife beating) is pervasive In Adventist congregations also.
This is an embarrassing and unfortunate extension of the Headship Doctrine which gives husbands the ultimate authority over their wives.
Regrettably, this Headship Doctrine, where the father in the family derives despotic, almost kingly power over every family member, is used by some men as a justification for physical, emotional and sexual abuse of their offspring.
The Headship Doctrine, recently imported into Adventism from suspect Calvinist sources, regrettably not only demeans and denigrates all our women members as being “less than” but contaminates our church by giving our male members justification to beat their wives and abuse their children.
And here we come full circle: Who better than women pastors to whom desperate children and battered wives can…
I am sure this has a lot to do with the status of women in so many of the third-world countries where so many members come from. It’s part of their culture, and until Adventists in these countries own up to it, this will continue to be a sinful problem and blot on the church as God’s people.
There needs to be changes made in what is being taught in these countries through these great evangelism efforts. They seem to neglect treatment of women, children, and each other as a vital part of evangelism. They are a waste of money if they don’t change behavior. The love of Christ is apparently not being preached and instead perhaps doctrine without out Christ’s love is the focus. I don’t know as I haven’t heard them, but I know human nature.
“CDC informs me that that we have 680,000 more men than women physically assaulted by an intimate partner with a weapon.”
If true, why is the only apparent focus on abuse of women??
I guess the obvious reason is apparent now, with all the statistics deleted. Many have ulterior motives that have nothing to do with protecting anyone.
We need to teach our children to get married and say married; they are more that twice as safe that way.
Over 40% of child abuse cases are now caused or allowed by the mother; more than twice any other relationship (HHS).
A weapon was involved in 27% of the male victimization’s, with 8% being shot, stabbed or hit with a weapon. Of these 31% were threatened before the attack (BJS).
As you state the physical assault number above and referencing the 4.8 million more men were physiologically agressed against (last year alone) from the CDC.
We are commanded and need to protect or families and kids within wisdom, not ignorance. In many cases when something seems right; interference only creates larger issues. Other cultures only see this as interference in discourse.
The enditnow website has not been available for review for some while. I see a few other Church websites that link to non-Church related organizations that do not work. I assume thay existed on Federal Funding, until the US AGO released the opinion letter removing discriminatory use; based on Supreme Court ruling. It is easy to use others money to promote discriminatory ideologies; nondiscrimination seems to loose that “flair”.
This stewardship should be used to protect and help everyone.
Not sure how many but some of these reports are just outright lies. Physical abuse is required by women’s shelters so as a matter of expediency, some women who simply don’t want to be in a marriage LIE in order to have a place to run to.
Women do a good job of hiding the fact that they are often the predators, hustling guys for money, etc., in exchange for sex. Read the South China Morning Post for a while and learn about the men who are poisoned and robbed by prostitutes, or older men who are murdered by their Asian girlfriends in places like Thailand.
Victimization of older men [elder abuse] by predatory younger women in Thailand is so common that a group of expatriates involved with local women actually had a betting pool to determine which one of them would be next.
Guys, if American women are so fragile, I have a great solution: marry an Asian woman. They are happily submissive and will gladly serve you, wash for you, cook for you, do everything your liberated x wife wouldn’t.
Oh, If you marry the wrong woman and she murders you, sorry about that
Please provide a link for your information that more than one half million more men physically assaulted by an intimate partner with a weapon.
OK, so know how to cut and paste statistics. What are you doing to alleviate the problem? How are you helping the victims of abuse to heal and abusers to learn to respect others and treat others as God wants us to do? Are you concerned enough about the problem to get involved and actually do something that makes a difference?
Disability and financial distress are no obstacles to ministry if you are empowered by the Holy Spirit and doing what He wants you to do. Some of the most powerful witnesses for God whom I have ever met were disabled and on limited incomes and God used those obvious factors to draw attention to His power working through them.
Why would you or anyone else even consider government funding for community programs when God owns the cattle on a thousand hills and doesn’t mind selling a few to fund what He wants you to do? Where is your faith? Do you have more faith in government than God?
Reality,
Your response to my question below is a huge jumping to false conclusions on your part. In Matthew 6:24, Jesus talks about the futility of serving two masters. When you attempt to minister using the resources and rules of government, which is increasingly anti-faith, you are attempting to serve two masters and “You cannot serve both God and money.” Ministering to the needs of others using the power of God requires that we do as God told us and depend on Him alone to provide the resources we need to do whatever He wants done. If you are depending on government for those resources you are not depending on God.
So again I ask, where is your faith? Where is the evidence you have ever been touched by the love of God? Why should we believe you have even a shred of experience in soul-winning? I ask because of how your words are filled with great anger and you are quick to make wild accusations against people about which you know nothing. Please, before you type another message here, go to God and get some experience with His transforming love so you can respect the ministry experience of others instead of just attacking them.
Excuse me if I don’t believe this–it’s against all known fact. Women and children are the most abused humans on the planet. Think of human sex slaves; drunken men; Islamic radicals, etc. the list goes on.
What country are you talking about?
I would venture that many more women are killed by a male partner than men who are killed by women–Today.
I first heard of enditnow over three years ago. I was attending s worship service. During the announcment period, we were told that information about enditnow was available in the lobby.
That raised two concerns:
My parents were members of the SdA organization before I was born. I was raised in SdA schools. Over and over, I was told that the SdA organization didn’t get involved in any other political questions than religious liberty. My initial impression was that enditnow was political and thus that it was inappropriate for it to be promoted from the platform on sabbath morning. I raised that concern at the local level.
My second concern was that, depending how this “ideal” is pursued (and it IS a worthwhile ideal), it could have the unintended consequence that everything from vegetarian diets to home schooling may someday be included under the heading of “abuse”.
Roger,
I share your concern for political correctness twists good into evil instead of helping us deal with real problems in effective ways. Our first problem with abuse is overcoming our denial that it happens. I remember as a child hearing about the pastor of a nearby SDA church and his wife being charged with child abuse and not wanting to believe it could possibly be true. Then years later I came to realize that what I had thought was normal in my childhood actually was physical and mental abuse. We may not want to admit it, but being in God’s church doesn’t exempt us from having to deal with our human realities.
I think a critical aspect of preventing abuse is building closer friendships with both our neighbors and, in particular, in our church. My wife and I don’t have to think very long or hard to remember times when we didn’t know how to handle a situation and someone in the church whose children were older shared insights from their experience that were helpful to us. Sometimes the help was in a small way and other times it was quite significant. One of the biggest ways someone helped me was with learning to recognize when I was copying the abusive behaviors of my parents and to not treat my children in the same ways.
Roger, You are right to be concerned. A lot of this “abuse” nonsense is typical lefty, humanist claptrap. Much of the counseling imprints victimhood on the counselees. It’s actually more damaging that the so called “abuse” itself.
Hansen on August 25, 2015 at 6:18 am said:
“Roger, You are right to be concerned. A lot of this “abuse” nonsense is typical lefty, humanist claptrap.”
I had a good friend who lived in Santa Monica, California. He was a Jewish person who happened to be a “lefty” who gave us a lot of money to fight abuse. In this “ fight” I learned many things about abuse. Abuse is also defined as bullying, terrorizing, coercive control, severe insults, debasement, threats, overwhelming demands, shunning and/or isolation. Children who were psychologically abused suffered from anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and suicidal ideation at a greater rate than individuals who were physically and or sexually abused.
Among the three types of abuse, psychological abuse has the strongest link to depression, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, attachment problems and substance abuse.Psychological abuse, along with either physical or sexual abuse, was associated with more severe outcomes than when children were either physically or sexually abused and not psychologically abused. Sexual and physical abuse had to occur at the same time to cause the same effect as psychological abuse alone on behaviors and emotional response in school, attachment problems and self-injury behaviors.
The insensitivity of your remarks are only exceeded by the lack of factual knowledge.
My “lefty” friend is Sandy Koufax, a great pitcher and humanitarian.
Roger, Yes, yes, I’m insensitive. I should be more vulnerable, maybe attend some groups, is that what you mean? Sandy Koufax is a Jewish atheist. Whatever he thinks about “abuse” is irrelevant to me. What about Don Drysdale? What does he think about it, or Wally Moon? Does Maury Wills have an opinion?
This is just another trough for mental health “professionals” to feed at, incapacitating people for years of their life, turning them into victims, ultimately milking them dry. When they have no more money to spend on counseling, they have recovered enough to be referred to a person accumulating hours for licensure, charging on a sliding scale.
Pathetic that Adventists, who have the power of God at their disposal subscribe to this atheistic/humanist garbage.
Hansen you are so funny!
Sam, not Roger, Glad you have a sense of humor. It helps a lot!
You must have been a great pastor.
Roger,
How people are treated has a lot to do with their religious freedom.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in four American women experiences domestic abuse in her lifetime, with emotional abuse present in the majority of cases. The numbers are no better among churchgoers (a fact supported by research, studies, and statistics in No Place for Abuse: Biblical and Practical Resources to Counteract Domestic Violence, by Nancy Nason-Clark and the late theologian Catherine Clark Kroeger). In fact, the difference seems to be that some Adventist women are less likely to seek help, because many believe the Bible says they must submit to their husband regardless of his behavior. This “headship theology” error not only affects the ordination of women ministers in our churches but it has a terrible outcome in some Adventist homes. When Adventist women and children are abused and they seek help, it is their churches they go to first.
Emotional abuse is a particularly sticky topic for Adventists committed to the sanctity of marriage. While an increasing number of Adventist church leaders will suggest that a woman remove herself from a violent situation, they aren’t sure whether nonviolent forms of abuse merit anything beyond the suggestion that she “pray and submit.” The misguided advice many well-intentioned Christians give victims reveals a common misunderstanding about the problem—a misunderstanding some Adventist Pastors and churches are working to correct.
Sam, the CDC does not capture numbers for Domestic Abuse or Violence; nor does it use the same terminologies codified in criminal law.
Why would we rely on the personal opinions of a teacher of social workers, a Presbyterian theologian or you for that matter; for anything?
Is emotional abuse the term referencing Physiological Aggression in the CDC report? In that case we have 4.8 million more men than women exposed to such by “intimate partners”. Nonviolent forms are not codified; conspiracy would the term used for such individual ideologies of misguided groups. Hopefully they are assuming the risks and not the Church.
Sam, it is great that you and others want to get involved; but please learn the laws, requirements and needs first. Focus and wisdom some of the many value adds in Unity of the Body.
I actually fear now that we as society may loose the Anticipated Civility in Protection Orders; because of those like you. More than half of the pleas are thrown out before they get to Court, almost 50% of the remaining are thrown out at first stage of Court and 30% have no injuries and thrown out afterwards. We are very limited in protecting others because of you and those like you already; can you possibly make the job any more difficult?
Concerned Christian on August 28, 2015 at 2:48 pm said:
“Sam, the CDC does not capture numbers for Domestic Abuse or Violence; nor does it use the same terminologies codified in criminal law”
This is absolutely 100% FALSE. Please be more accurate when posting comments on such an important topic. The Centers for Disease Control is the most reputable source available for statistics and research on domestic abuse in the USA.
Google for further understanding from a CDC web site:
Intimate Partner Violence Surveillance: Uniform Definitions and Recommended Data Elements, Version 2.0
http://www.cdc.gov/features/intimatepartnerviolence/
CDC Domestic Violence
Download full resolution image of infographic [.JPG 4.3 MB](http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/images/nisvs-infographic-full.jpg)
Download CDC PDF version of infographic[PDF 2.2 MB](http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/nisvs-infographic.pdf)
This information is free to anyone who wants to download it from the internet.
Examine
And again SAM the CDC does not capture numbers for Domestic Abuse or Violence; they include persons dating and other classifications (Intimate Partner) that are not relevant to the legal term and only include results of a survey.
You reference the new surveillance documents for the study underway. The CDC is moving from a survey to a records based surveillance. Instead of asking surveyed individuals, they will rely on police, hospital and other information sources; this is much more accurate. Men will not usually say they are hit or hurt. I will let you know when it is available (don’t hold your breath, it will be a while). But the results of the 2010 survey are listed below.
Again if you are looking for a cause; is it to much to ask that you find something less critical and that you may possibly be able to help with?
This problem has exacerbated in the past because of Adventist isolation not wanting to air their dirty laundry before others. One can see the Duggar family who homeschooled all their many children, keeping them “from the world” and in their ignorance, the girls were molested by their own brother!
This happens in many religious families: abuse by an older relative with little girls around and everyone is supposed to be good and religious. But temptations don’t stop at the church door.
How many abused women have been ashamed to admit they were being abused? Or children were not believed when they revealed their abuse? When evil is not brought out into the open it only festers like an infection and grows more deadly. The church should be the first to protect the innocent but sadly, it has been the last.
Governing Rules in the United States
1) Individuals have absolute Civil Rights that include that to raise and discipline their children, to marry, to privacy and to non-intrusion by individuals; as well as the Freedom of Speech and Religion. The SCOTUS has stated that everyone should know these rights and any actions should reflect such; no excuses.
2) The Federal Government and through the many States (not individuals) have implemented the definitions of Domestic Violence (and abuse), codifying in criminal law and even granting the anticipated civility of protection orders.
3) The Church has specific reporting requirements and immunities granted in such.
Any individuals or those pooling to inflict their personal opinions or ideologies only conspire against the above and impose risk to themselves and the Church. In simplest form, opinions do not change Law or remove the Civil Rights of others; nor does it change those enforcing or obligated in protecting such. It also does not change the Bible from which all of these constructions were formed.
We all feel very strongly in protecting our families, but this is the perfect example of why these Civil Rights are in place. Anyone feeling comfortable in breaching any of these rules can assume the liabilities on their own and outside the bounds and liabilities of the Church; please.
“We need to teach our children to get married and say married; they are more that twice as safe that way.”
Children should not be married; too many are immature when marrying and are not ready for what marriage and parenting involves.
Young people are marrying later in life today and those marriages have far greater success than those marrying younger. Parents should never encourage early marriage as it takes maturity to stay married; any two kids can marry but to have that marriage last is not for children.
Teach, not do.
We are doing better though. The marriage stats percentages are increasing. Up 3% over the last 7 years and the number of unmarried dropped 2%. A lot of hard work and effort of many that should be cherished and appreciated.
Elaine, we all want our families protected. We want our children to understand HIS PLAN and we are commanded to teach such; marriage only happens once. They definitely need to be old enough to understand that. We have sufficient wisdom to ensure that happens; this is important enough for all of us to make sure this happens.
Sorry for the short post, was kind of in a hurry; figured spending a little time here was much more valuable.
One of the most powerful factors many church pastors and leaders are discovering that imsroves the number of successful marriages and reduced the number of divorces is having couples who have been married for longer periods mentoring younger couples. A man or woman who was raised in a broken/blended home is far more likely to divorce than one whose parents are happily married to their first spouse. Unfortunately, we have a limited and shrinking number of such couples who can mentor younger couples and teach them how to solve the problems every family faces.
About six years ago a couple in our church who had been married and divorced decided to get married. They seemed to be madly in love, then two weeks after the wedding we were utterly shocked to learn they had separated in one of the most acrimonious splits I have ever witnessed. My wife and I were among four couples who refused to let them go and worked closely with them to help them work through their problems. Then they began attending a different church and just today we were stunned to learn they have split and he is filing for divorce. She turned to us for help because of our past relationship. I don’t know what is going to happen, but we’re going to love both of them through it and help wherever we can without taking sides or casting blame. With God’s blessing we might even help them learn new problem-solving skills.