Domestic Abuse in the Church

Domestic abuse is no respecter of persons. And this silent epidemic in the church got a face when Bishop Thomas Weeks, III, beat down his televangelist wife, Prophetess Juanita Bynum, in an Atlanta parking lot in 2007.

Not Miss No More Sheets.

Yes, Miss No More Sheets. Countless Christian women are battered every day. Statistics show that one out of every four Christian couples experiences at least one episode of physical abuse within their marriage. And, unfortunately, church leaders aren’t always equipped to give women the help they need. They often suggest couples counseling, rendering the woman afraid to speak openly about her abuse.

Church members are also afraid of promoting divorce, but sometimes divorce is the inevitable end result of domestic violence. It’s unbelievable how many Christian men think they’re entitled by God to discipline and control their wives. Abusers often use Ephesians 4:22-24 to defend their actions: Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the Church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the Church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

No man has a God-given right to punish or retaliate against his wife under any condition. And a woman shouldn’t be led to think that suffering through submission will make her a better person. To allow someone to abuse you does not bring glory to God.