Mahoney Calls for Churches to Lead in Healing of Sexual Abuse and Assault

CBN News (Christian Broadcasting Network)
December 02, 2017

http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/2017/december/mahoney-calls-for-churches-to-lead-in-healing-of-sexual-abuse-and-assault

The Rev. Patrick Mahoney, the pastor of Church on the Hill and director of the Christian Defense Coalition, has called for faith communities to be a leading voice in confronting sexual abuse and assault and to bring healing to those who have been wounded and impacted.

He's encouraging churches all over North America to become involved and to speak out on these issues. 

On Saturday, the Church on the Hill met near Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., to hear Mahoney present "A Christian Response to Sexual Assault and Rape Culture."

The church's one-hour meeting was shown on Facebook Live. 

"It is the church that needs to be at the forefront of this issue,"  Mahoney stressed.

Mahoney shared some recent statistics. Every 98 seconds an American is a victim of sexual assault.  Every eight minutes that victim is a child. One in six women is a victim of rape or attempted rape. 

"God is now choosing to bring this out. God is moving on this. The wind is blowing.  What God reveals, God heals," Mahoney said.

"Who's the next person?  Who's going to be implicated?  Who's next? God is not interested in that. God is interested in healing and moving us past this. He has to brought this to light for a reason," Mahoney continued.

Mahoney also offered a prayer for all victims of sexual abuse and sexual assault to remove any guilt or shame.

"It is not your fault. You are not to blame. You didn't create this. You didn't make this happen. he said.

The Church on the Hill plans to have similar town hall meetings over the next year to discuss these issues.