I Will Stand: A New Facebook Ministry to Raise Abuse Awareness

Barbara Roberts ♦ 7th February 2013 ♦ 6 Comments

[November 13, 2022: There have been some changes made to this post. For more information, read the Editors’ notes at the bottom of the post. Editors.]

The following post¹ introduces us to a new Facebook ministry called I Will Stand. We are glad to endorse it and our readers are encouraged to go on over and pay them a visit! The link is also at the end of their post.

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I Will Stand

Statistics show that 1 in 4 women will be abused in their lifetime, in some way. Researchers believe that number is actually much higher, because many women never report their experience, and therefore, aren’t accounted for in those statistics. Abuse is real and it’s a pervasive problem in our society today. No one, if they know what it truly is, is untouched by it in their lives or in the lives of someone they know. Yet it is largely ignored, pushed aside and danced around by law enforcement, courts, churches and even family and friends.

Abuse isn’t about anger. It’s about control and entitlement. It’s one person controlling the behaviors and actions and even the thoughts of another, so that the victim is under total submission to the will of the abuser. The abuser will play mind games, degrade, humiliate, embarrass, harass, assault and manipulate their victim, in many, many different ways, in order to maintain that control over them.

There is emotional abuse, physical abuse, spiritual abuse, financial abuse, sexual abuse and more. Many of these are so subtle, that people don’t know what is happening to them, until they have been under complete control for years and years.

The church as a whole, tends to perpetuate this, by misusing Scriptures on submission of women and by misinterpreting the Bible on the topic of divorce. They time and again, counsel the victim to stay with the abuser, and that love and forgiveness will change them. But what we know is that only God can change an individual’s heart, and if that heart is hardened against that change, they will not stop, the abuse will continue and in fact, in most cases, will get worse. Statistics show that very few abusers ever genuinely repent and change their ways. Yet the church at large, still forces women to make the choice to stay in a situation that is killing them, or have to leave the church and be shunned by them.

I Will Stand is about standing with people who have been or are being abused. It’s about taking a stand against abuse, in all of its’ forms and it’s about standing in the gap, to support women who have been rejected by the larger church community, after leaving their abusive situations. It’s about standing with them, to change these churches and show them that they are wrong in rejecting the victim for choosing to leave their marriage, while supporting their abuser with open arms. We want to show these women that God loves them too much to make them suffer in an abusive marriage that will not change.

We are an organization who wants to educate teens and young adults about the warning signs of abuse, so that they can stand against falling prey to this evil in their future relationships and we seek also to educate those who are being abused and don’t even realize it yet.

We are passionate about seeking total change in the hearts and minds of those who would otherwise have turned their backs and ignored the problem, so that they can instead, reach out to and support those who are suffering with the effects of this evil. We are asking the questions, “Will you stand with us? Will you stand against abuse and for the many people who live in it or have lived in it every day? Will you stand and tell your leaders, your churches, your communities, that this problem will never go away, if we all just pretend it doesn’t exist? Will you stand for your neighbor, your daughter, your sister, who can’t stand for themselves? Will you stand and call abuse for the evil that it really is? Will you stand and say with us, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH??”

(End Note: I Will Stand is a charity, birthed out of 17 years of personal experience of abuse, as well as story after story of people coming out of abusive relationships, and telling of how they were not believed, how they were condemned for leaving and how over and over again, they were not supported and often shunned and rejected at the very time they needed the most help. It was set up to help stop abuse, and stop the rejection of those who have been abused by society and especially the church.)

To connect with I Will Stand, please visit the I Will Stand Facebook page at: I Will Stand

¹[November 13, 2022: The I Will Stand Facebook page has an updated version of the above post (on the left side of their Facebook page, as well as under About on their Facebook page), including the following information:

….But women are not the only ones affected. Many men (we do not know approximate statistics yet) are also suffering from domestic abuse every day. Researchers believe that the numbers for both men and women are actually much higher than we can confirm, but because many people never report their experience, they aren’t accounted for in the statistics.

The church as a whole tends to perpetuate this, by misinterpreting the Bible on the topic of divorce. Time and time again they counsel the victim to stay with the abuser, and that love and forgiveness will change them. But what we know is that only God can change an individual’s heart, and if that heart is hardened against that change, they will not stop, the abuse will continue and in fact, in most cases, will get worse. Statistics show that very few abusers ever genuinely repent and change their ways. Yet the church by and large, still forces women to make the choice to stay in a situation that is killing them, or have to leave the church and be shunned by them.

Editors.]

[November 13, 2022: Editors’ notes:

—For some comments made prior to November 13, 2022 that quoted from the post, the text in the comment that was quoted from the post might no longer be an exact match.
—For some comments made prior to November 13, 2022 that quoted from the post, the text in the comment that was quoted from the post might no longer be found in the post.
If you would like to compare the text in the comments made prior to November 13, 2022 that quoted from the post to the post as it is now (November 13, 2022), click here [Internet Archive link] for the most recent Internet Archive copy of the post.]