Registration opens June 1 for domestic-violence, child-abuse workshop

One in three women and one in four men in the United States have experienced a form of intimate partner violence in their lifetime, according to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Children suffer from abuse, as well. In 2013, the number of children referred to child protective services for alleged maltreatment totaled 6.4 million, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

To help equip LCMS church workers to compassionately minister to those who are hurting, the LCMS Task Force on Domestic Violence and Child Abuse will hold a training event Sept. 30 at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

Registration opens June 1 for the event, which is called “Identify, Understand, Intervene: Workshop on Domestic Violence and Child Abuse.” It is geared for seminary students and church workers.

Scheduled workshop speakers are:

+ Victor Vieth, executive director emeritus of Gundersen National Child Protection Training Center, headquartered in Winona, Minn.; and

+ Dr. Stephen Saunders, professor of Psychology and director of Clinical Training for the doctoral program in Clinical Psychology at Marquette University.

“This one-day training event will provide an overview of domestic violence and child abuse; highlight helpful resources; and provide tools for identifying, understanding and intervening in situations involving abuse,” said Deaconess Kim Schave, task force chair and director of project and policy administration in the Synod’s Office of the Chief Administrative Officer.

It “will be more comprehensive [than previous workshops] in that a renowned expert on child abuse will be leading that section of the training,” she continued.

Delegates to both the 2007 and 2010 Synod conventions mandated that a committee be formed to examine the issues of domestic violence and child abuse and to make materials and training available to seminary and professional church-worker students and other individuals in the LCMS.

“The task force is now prepared to do so after working diligently over the last 18 months to identify and develop resources,” Schave said.

The workshop also will be offered at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind., in April 2016.

Starting June 1, contact Annette Woehlke at annette.woehlke@lcms.org or 314-996-1731 to register. To learn more about the workshop, click here.

Visit lcms.org/socialissues/domesticviolence and lcms.org/socialissues/childabuse for resources and to learn more about the issues.

Posted May 29, 2015