Survivor Awareness: How to speak to and about survivors of abuse, Tuesday 14 May, 11am – 12:30pm

This webinar is being organised and led by the Methodist Survivors Advisory Group with support from the Connexional Safeguarding Team. It is estimated that as many as 1 in 3 people will experience some form of abuse or traumatic experience during their lifetime. Survivors of abuse choose carefully who to disclose to. They might not always go to “the Safeguarding Officer” but rather the person at church they think is most likely to listen to them, believe them, offer support and perhaps act on their concern if that’s what they want. When someone speaks out to you about their experience of abuse and trauma, you are being given their trust.

There will be many people in our congregations across the UK, still suffering in silence, too scared to speak out at church for fear of being judged or blamed. Some survivors have unfortunately experienced a negative response from churches: being told they are to blame, or that what happened was God testing them, that they should just forgive and forget, or even that they are a liar. Survivors hear those messages and believe them. They don’t hear the message of “God loves you” loud and clear enough, perhaps because of shame and guilt, perhaps because of negative experiences, or perhaps because this part of life simply isn’t ever raised in our church.

So how can we speak out from the pulpit, giving the good news of God to survivors of abuse? How can we respond well to survivors of abuse and offer them support? How can we let them know “God loves you” and “it wasn’t your fault”? Please come along to learn more.