Erica Hamence- Domestic Family Violence and the Church

In this weeks episode we are going to be talking about a sensitive topic: we are talking about Domestic family violence. Within this topic, we will address how the church has sometimes got their response wrong, and also where the church has done the right thing, and also how the church can do better. We will also be exploring how to navigate domestic family violence in light of faith in God. I do also talk about how things like forgiveness and verses like “turn the other cheek” have been weaponised, and how we might understand such topics and verses in light of Domestic Family Violence. In exploring these questions, I had this conversation with Erica Hamence.

Erica initially trained to be a human rights lawyer, with a BA/LLB from The University of Melbourne. But she found herself drawn to express the same desire for justice within the church. This eventually led her to ministry in Sydney. She is a senior assistant minister at St. Barnabas Anglican Church, Broadway (Barneys to everyone), where she mostly works to support and raise up leaders. She is also the spokesperson for Common Grace's Domestic and Family Violence Justice Team. The team works to highlight and address the problem of domestic and family violence within the church and within Australian society, and to provide resources and support to people who have experienced domestic and family violence, and those who love them. Common Grace is a movement of about 47,000 who love Jesus and justice.

To learn more about what Common Grace does in relation to seeking domestic and family violence justice, visit https://www.commongrace.org.au/domestic_violence. Also, check out https://www.saferresource.org.au/, which is a resource to help Australian churches understand, identify, and respond to domestic and family violence.

If today’s episode has prompted you to seek help in response todays episode topic, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or call the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800 737 732.