GRACE - Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment

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GRACE - Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment

Mission: Empowering Christian communities to recognize, prevent, and respond to abuse. Founded 2004 Our GRACE email address is [email protected].

Due to the important and sensitive nature of the work we do, we have disabled FaceBook Messages for this page. However, we still want to hear from you and we can be reached via email. GRACE strongly encourages you to report to authorities and not to view communication with GRACE as a substitute for reporting to authorities or seeking legal, medical, or mental health support. Staff at GRACE may be legally or ethically required to report abuse allegations.

04/13/2026

Have you been thinking about attending GRACE's short-form course, "Becoming a Trauma-Informed Church" with Laura Thien? Consider this is your sign to register!

In this interactive session, you’ll explore:
✨ What trauma really is
✨ How it shapes the way people experience care and connection
✨ The four “R’s” of trauma-informed care
✨ The six key principles you can start applying right away

Plus, you won’t just learn—you’ll engage with real-time examples that bring these concepts to life.

Register today (before registration closes!): netgrace.org/training-center

04/10/2026

👆🏻These five misconceptions about sexual assault are ones we see show up again and again in certain pockets of Christianity. Often perpetuated by poor theology, fear, discomfort, ignorance or unwillingness to take responsibility - the first line of response is to raise awareness and speak the truth without compromise.

04/07/2026

We don’t hesitate to teach children how to stop, drop, and roll, or how to look both ways before crossing the street. These are life-saving skills. So why is it that there is often a "bristle" when it comes to teaching them about personal boundaries and body autonomy?

Preventing child maltreatment requires more than just adult supervision; it also involves:
- Normalizing body boundaries and teaching children that they are the boss of their bodies
- Equipping children with specific words for their anatomy and language to describe uncomfortable situations
- Fostering openness with your children and starting conversations about body safety and autonomy young

If you're looking for a great resource for talking to children between 2-8 years in an age-appropriate way about this sensitive topic, check out "God Made All Of Me: A Book To Help Children Protect Their Bodies" by Justin & Lindsey Holcomb

04/04/2026

In addition to Child Abuse Prevention Month, April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). Sexual violence affects people of all genders, ages, and backgrounds—including those in the Church. This month, we invite you to learn more about the prevalence of sexual violence, listen to the voices of survivors, and engage with curiosity in resources, trainings, and opportunities that foster healthier, safer faith communities.

04/03/2026

As we remember on the Passion of our Lord today, we also reflect on the kinship he shares with victims of abuse and violence. Mark Stibbe's 2025 article in Church Times, "Why Jesus the Victim Matters" discusses how the cross can bring comfort to survivors.

To read the full article, visit: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2025/17-april/comment/opinion/why-jesus-the-victim-matters

04/02/2026

April is National Child Abuse Prevention (CAP) Month—a time to recognize the importance of families and communities working together to prevent child maltreatment. While these statistics from the CDC can feel overwhelming, we invite you to join us this month as we reflect on our shared responsibility to prevent child abuse in our schools, churches, organizations, and communities.

04/01/2026

Trauma is shaped by systems, histories, identities, and lived experiences—especially for those who have faced marginalization, discrimination, or exclusion.

For faith communities, this matters deeply:
✨ It calls us to listen with humility
✨ It challenges us to acknowledge painful histories
✨ It invites us to create environments of respect
✨ It reminds us that healing looks different across cultures and experiences even in faith contexts

When we center cultural, historical, and gender awareness and justice, we move closer to being communities of refuge—where people don’t have to leave parts of themselves at the door to belong.

03/30/2026

Don’t miss this 2-hour online training where you’ll learn how a trauma-informed approach can transform the way we care for people in our faith communities.

In this interactive session, you’ll discover:
✨ What trauma really is
✨ How it impacts connection, trust, and care
✨ The four “R’s” of trauma-informed care
✨ Six practical principles you can start using right away

Led by Laura Thien, a respected trainer and educator on trauma-informed care, spiritual injury, integrating spirituality into mental health treatment, abuse prevention and response, and the wellbeing of helping professionals. Laura specializes in trauma-informed, evidence-based mental health treatment, including spiritual integration, when appropriate. For many years, she provided support and treatment for survivors of sexual trauma at Julie Valentine Center, a community-based sexual trauma recovery center and Child Advocacy Center in Greenville, SC.

Register today and be part of creating a safer, more caring community: https://grace.trainercentralsite.com/session/becoming-a-trauma-informed-church-284207510634/?source=my_site&fbclid=IwY2xjawQ3uyBleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFkY2haZDFKRktzSFd6Q2FJc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHvsdsYz-GcGKi-nllEBu9t_4Vh7-55oLkqrVbNX6WX6YeUaThtix57loqMTX_aem_8uVRKtV0yD0yMC8XjFyCIg

03/28/2026

Since its founding 22 years ago, GRACE’s mission has remained unchanged: empowering Christian communities to recognize, prevent, and respond to abuse. However, we cannot effectively pursue this mission without centering the lived experiences of those who have personally navigated abuse in these spaces.

To truly recognize and respond, we must first listen.

If you are a survivor of trauma within a faith community, we are inviting you to share your perspective through a brief survey. Your insights are not just helpful—they are essential for guiding and informing GRACE’s ongoing work and will help our team develop resources rooted in the reality of survivor needs.

This survey is anonymous and every question is optional.

NOTE: We recognize that sharing your story can be difficult. Please engage with this survey only if and when you feel emotionally ready to do so. Your well-being always comes before our data.

Take the Survey: https://forms.gle/U9tmiP9PsTpuqqh97

03/26/2026

Research has shown that one of the greatest factors contributing to resiliency after trauma is supportive relationships and community. The Church has an opportunity to provide this kind of long-term care and connection to those who have experienced abuse, but to do so, we must go beyond words; it requires a commitment to justice and a deep understanding of trauma.

Because ultimately, caring for survivors requires more than good intentions. As former GRACE Executive Director Pete Singer highlights in Toward a More Trauma-Informed Church, many survivors seek justice within their faith communities, only to find responses that compound their hurt.

To read Pete's full article visit: https://currentsjournal.org/index.php/currents/article/view/444

03/24/2026

What if our churches became places of deeper safety, healing, and understanding?

Pete Singer's article, Toward a More Trauma-Informed Church: Equipping Faith Communities to Prevent and Respond to Abuse, invites us to rethink how faith communities can better support those impacted by trauma.

If you care about building a safer, more compassionate community, this is an important read.

Article: https://www.netgrace.org/resources/toward-a-more-trauma-informed-church

03/23/2026

Church leadership is about more than guiding from the front—it’s about cultivating a community of care.

Facilitating peer support means helping individuals identify trusted relationships within the church body, equipping them to seek support in healthy, life-giving ways, and empowering others to step in with compassion, wisdom, and consistency.

When leaders foster this kind of culture, the whole church becomes stronger, more connected, and better equipped to care for one another.

Address

4026 WARDS Road Unit G1, #198
Lynchburg, VA
24502

Website

http://www.netgrace.org/

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