Bible studies

Hand in hand: Bible studies to transform our response to sexual violence

A biblical exploration of sexual violence through scripture study, offering faith-based insights for church and community response

2015 Available in English, French, Portuguese, Hindi and Nepali

Cover of Transforming masculinities hand in hand bible study

Changing social and gender norms tk header

From: Changing social and gender norms toolkit

Evidence-based resources helping communities change harmful gender norms and promote positive masculinities and gender equality.

This book explores passages from the Bible to help us gain some insight into the impact of sexual violence on our communities and churches, and to suggest ways we can respond. These Bible studies are designed to be used in small groups, such as Bible study groups, Mothers’ Union meetings, youth groups or other church groups. They can also be used by individuals but more learning is likely to come in a group discussion setting. As the Bible is the foundation of Christian teaching, it is important to understand what it says on the issue of sexual violence.

The aim of the resource is to provide information and tools to enable individuals, local churches and communities to:

create an awareness of sexual violence and its impact on individuals and communities
explore what the Bible says about sexual violence and how this teaching can be applied
identify if sexual violence happens in our own church and community
understand our role and responsibility in relation to sexual violence
create ‘safe’ environments in churches for survivors of sexual violence
advocate for appropriate support for survivors to help them deal with the consequences of sexual violence.

Sexual violence is defined by the World Health Organization as ‘any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts to traffic, or otherwise directed, against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim’. Sexual violence happens in all countries across the world; it can happen within marriages, homes, churches and communities. Violence can be committed by someone known to the survivor or by a complete stranger. Violence can be experienced by anyone, regardless of ethnicity, age or social standing. Survivors can suffer severe physical and emotional consequences. They often feel shame and guilt as well as fear of stigma, discrimination and further violence, which leads to the issue not being reported or spoken of openly.

Churches are an integral part of communities worldwide, with a mandate to care and stand with people who are marginalised and vulnerable. Shame, fear and lack of understanding often lead to sexual violence being hidden in both churches and the wider communities. It is important to create an environment in which both men, women, girls and boys feel able to speak about these issues and share their own personal experiences. This resource is important as it seeks to empower all members of the church and community to break that silence and enable them to understand and respond to sexual violence together. Churches worldwide have huge untapped potential to be catalysts in transforming communities around this issue.

This resource uses Contextual Bible Study (CBS) methodology: this approach is an interactive study of biblical texts and allows the reader to engage his/her context with the context of the Bible. We have chosen this approach to help churches understand more about the issue and about their role and responsibilities in responding to sexual violence.

Each Bible study follows the same outline.

The first page contains background information for the facilitator and some suggestions for practical responses. This page is not to be read out to the group, but the facilitator should take time to read it and think about the study before the group meets. The facilitator’s pages are set out in the following format:

Background information

This section helps provide useful background information before beginning the study. The facilitator needs to read and remember these points.

Tips for the facilitator

These tips can help the facilitator draw out relevant discussion points and experiences.

Ideas for practical response

These studies may change how we feel about certain issues – ideally, they should lead to action too. As the discussion draws to an end, use the ideas included here to help people focus on practical responses.

How could this study change us?

We list the objectives of the study – what the participants should gain as a result of the Bible study. There are three kinds of objectives:

KNOWING – these describe the practical knowledge and learning to be gained

BEING – these describe changes to our thinking and understanding, changing our heart and our responses

ACTING – these are the practical responses we can make as a result of our learning

The second page contains different elements relevant to the Bible passage and discussion.

Bible passage

Read the Bible passage or passages together and refer to these throughout the discussion.

Discussion – in biblical times…

We start by reflecting on what the passage meant during biblical times, who it was written for and the situation at that time.

Discussion – in the context of sexual violence…

Then we consider what the Bible passage is saying to us today – what is its relevance to us, to our lives in the present times, and in particular, what is it saying about the issue of sexual violence?

Key learning points and prayer points

We have written some key learning points to take away from the discussions and some prayer points you can finish with in your group. Check that these points have come out through the discussion. These should provide a good summary of the learning gained through the study. Of course, you are free to adapt these and add more.