Resources

IMMEDIATE HELP

• 24 Hour National Sexual Assault Hotline

Through this link, survivors, caregivers, and loved ones can call in by phone or chat online with experts any time for any reason. If you feel like you need help, don’t hesitate. You are who the hotline was created for.

ORGANIZATIONS & WEBSITES

• INCITE! – Because dominant trends in movements of resistance to sexual violence and support for survivors privilege white voices, we highly recommend that you get to know INCITE! They are a network of radical feminists of color working to end violence against women, gender non-conforming, and trans people of color, and they are brilliant. Their resources are valuable for all communities trying to resist sexual violence and support survivors. Here is a direct link to INCITE!’s resources page.

Other valuable organizations and websites (an obviously incomplete list):

• Darkness to Light – Focuses on preventing child sexual abuse in communities of faith.
• Dove’s Nest – Supports congregations in drafting and enforcing policies for the prevention of child abuse and neglect.
• FACSA | The Foundation to Abolish Child Sex Abuse – An organization with a mission to influence the adoption of state and federal legislation that will:
  • Provide strong protection for children from sex abuse
  • Deter perpetrators of child sexual abuse.
  • Enable justice for child sexual abuse survivors
• FaithTrust Institute – Specifically focused on offering resources for confronting sexual violence in communities of faith.
• GRACE – Godly Responses to Abuse in the Christian Environment – An organization that conducts assessments of the adequacy with Christian communities respond to sexual violence.
• Male Survivor – A site for men and boys who are confronting experiences with sexualized violence and abuse.
• RAINN – Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network – National network that operates a 24 hour support hotline and offers an abundance of broad statistics and resources.
• SafeChurch – An organization that specializes in helping churches create and implement safety policies and procedures. Their specialization includes but is not limited to protecting children in the congregation from abuse.
• SCESA – Sisters of Color Ending Sexual Assault – Gives voice and develops action strategies against sexual assault that incorporate and address the multiple layers of discrimination that are faced by Women of Color.
• The Silent Majority: Adult Victims of Sexual Exploitation by Clergy – A website that offers explanation of the psychological impacts, congregational impacts, victim impacts, and more in situations of sexual abuse in the church.

BOOKS WE RECOMMEND:

• A Womanist Pastoral Theology Against Intimate and Cultural Violence – Stephanie M. Crumpton
• Balm for Gilead: Pastoral Advocacy for African American Families Experiencing Abuse – Toinnette Eugene
• Books by James Poling on theology, religious practice, and sexual abuse
• Christianity, Patriarchy, and Abuse – Joanne Carlson Brown and Carol R. Bohn
• Color of Violence – INCITE!
• Conquest: Sexual Violence and the American Indian Genocide – Andrea Smith
• Let the Children Come – by Jeanette Harder
• Peace Theology and Violence Against Women – edited by Elizabeth G. Yoder
• Proverbs of Ashes: Violence, Redemptive Suffering, and the Search for What Saves Us – Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker
• Rid of My Disgrace: Hope and Healing for Victims of Sexual Assault – by Lindsey and Justin Holcomb
• Sexual Abuse in Christian Homes & Churches – by Carolyn Holderread Heggen
• The Body Keeps the Score – Bessel van der Kolk
• The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse – Ellen Bass and Laura Davis
• The Dinah Project: A Handbook for Congregational Response to Sexual Violence – by Monica A. Coleman, an ordained elder and rape survivor in the African Methodist Episcopal Church
• Trauma and Recovery: From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror – Judith Herman
• Victim To Survivor: Women Recovering From Clergy Abuse – by Nancy Werking Poling

MENNONITE RESOURCES

• “A Resolution on Male Violence Against Women, 1993”
• John Howard Yoder Digest: Recent Articles About Sexual Abuse and Discernment – A collection of articles that outline the conversation and developments related to John Howard Yoder’s sexual abuse of women and its theological and ecclesiological implications, updated from 2013-15 by Hannah Heinzekehr
• Mennonite Central Committee Abuse Page: Response & Prevention
• MCC PDF Booklet: Understanding Sexual Abuse by a Church Leader or Caregiver
• Dove’s Nest
• MCC Manitoba: Voices for Non-Violence