Pastors Rarely Preach About Domestic Violence Even Though It Affects Countless Americans

According to a survey from LifeWay Research which interviewed 1,000 senior pastors of Protestant churches in the U.S., pastors rarely include the topics of domestic and sexual violence in their sermons.

Co-sponsored by the Christian nonprofits Sojourners and IMA World Health, the survey also found that pastors were more likely to believe domestic violence was an issue in their community (72%) than an issue in their church (25%).

“I think many pastors still don’t think it exists in their congregation,” Yvonne DeVaughn, director of Advocacy for Victims of Abuse (AVA), told LifeWay.

This discrepancy may not be entirely the pastors' faults, however, as 52% of senior pastors say they don’t have sufficient training to address domestic or sexual violence in their communities. 81% said they would work to reduce domestic violence if they had more training.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/29/pastors-domestic-violence_n_5538126.html