Former Soviet Union (MNN) — How can churches fight against domestic abuse and the attitudes leading to it?
Eric Mock with the Slavic Gospel Association says, “We support schools in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, in Central Asia, and Kazakhstan. We’re helping provide biblical counseling. We’re providing them [education], that they would know how to help couples understand what a biblical marriage looks like, to understand how to recover from domestic violence, and how to work through it.”
A Christian perspective on marriage
Christians have a unique perspective on what marriage is supposed to look like, based on Jesus’ teachings on the first chapters of Genesis.
Violence or manipulation is never part of that picture. Mock says, “We’re helping people understand what it looks like to have a biblical marriage. How important it is to respect the dignity of each human life and the value of men and women, equally valuable in God’s eyes.”
It’s important to train nationals to do this work, Mock says. COVID-19 and tense politics have kept Americans out of the region. “What’s exciting about this is that with even 50% of the training, its nationals training nationals. The training has gone on to such a point that only a few specialized Americans are coming over. And now the schools that are there are training and equipping the Church.”
Through this work, pray Christians in Slavic nations would become known for their love and grace.
(Header photo courtesy of Zoriana Stakhniv on Unsplash)
