On the weekend of May 18-19 The Summit Church (Durham, NC) addressed the subject of sexual abuse in all of our weekend services. This series is a reflection of those services, the preparation that went into them, and the aftercare that was provided.
We do not propose to have done this weekend perfectly, although we worked diligently to conduct each aspect with excellence. Our hope is that the resources produced will allow other churches to address this needed subject and improve upon our efforts. This is a subject that addresses 20% of our church, community, and world (1 in 4 women; 1 in 6 men). The church cannot be silent.
“If you preach the gospel in all aspects with the exception of the issues that deal specifically with your time, you are not preaching the gospel at all.” Martin Luther
This is the third of five posts in this series:
- Sermon
- Preparation
- Aftercare
- Seminar — this post
- Caring for the Care Team
As a part of our aftercare we provided a seminar entitled “Hope & Restoration After Sexual Abuse.” This presentation allowed for both (1) a next step in anonymously exploring how to recover from the experience of sexual abuse, (2) another opportunity to connect individuals with counseling resources, and (3) an opportunity for us to create a resource for our church to use in walking alongside those who have experienced sexual abuse.
Listening Note: If the materials below become overwhelming for you, please feel free to stop the videos and come back to them later. It is good for you to have a voice in how much you can process at one time.
The notebook which accompanies this presentation is available here in PDF form: Hope & Restoration After Sexual Abuse Notes
Hour One:
Understanding the Disruption
Hope & Restoration After Sexual Abuse: Part 1 from Equip on Vimeo.
Hour Two:
The Search for Peace
Hope & Restoration After Sexual Abuse: Part 2 from Equip on Vimeo.
Scripture Exercise One: Psalm 55 Personalized for Sexual Abuse
Scripture Exercise Two: Isaiah 53 Personalized for Sexual Abuse
Scripture Exercise Three: WHO I AM IN CHRIST_KELLEMEN
Hour Three:
The Search for Restoration
Hope & Restoration After Sexual Abuse: Part 3 from Equip on Vimeo.
Additional Resources
- On the Threshold of Hope by Diane Langberg
- Sexual Abuse (booklet) by Bob Kellemen
- Recovering from Child Abuse by David Powlison
- Please visit www.summitrdu.com/abuse for additional resources.
- For counseling resource through The Summit Church visit www.summitrdu.com/counseling
Correction: In the seminar, several times I reference that 40% of the population has been sexually abused. The actual number should be 20%. This was brought to my attention by someone who saw the math I was mis-computing. I added 1 in 4 women (25%) to 1 in 6 men (17%) and got 42%. However by that math 158% of people would have been abused — 3 in 4 women (75%) and 5 in 6 men (83%). I apologize for this error, which was an honest mistake by an amateur statistician.
If this post was beneficial for you, then considering reading other blogs from my “Favorite Posts on Sexual Abuse” post which address other facets of this subject.
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