An Opportunity for You
Here at The Hope of Survivors we’ve had the privilege of working with many victims of pastoral sexual abuse, offering compassionate support and Biblical counsel— the very things that we ourselves needed, as we worked through our own abuse.
Our desire is to ultimately prevent pastoral sexual abuse from ever happening in the first place. With this goal in mind we conduct conferences to educate church leaders and Christian communities about the devastation of pastoral sexual abuse.
In addition to prevention strategies, we also offer conferences designed to facilitate healing and restore hope to victims (and their spouses) of pastoral sexual abuse.
Here’s what we offer:
Hope & Healing Conference
The purpose of this conference is to provide information and support to those who have been abused by members of the clergy (of any denomination). The conference is primarily for adult female victims of pastoral sexual abuse and their spouses, however, anyone who desires to learn more about pastoral sexual abuse and prevention is welcome to attend. This is a four-hour conference and is presented by Steve & Samantha Nelson. Topics Include:
- What is pastoral sexual abuse?
- How does this happen?
- Is there an imbalance?
- Who is vulnerable?
- What are the vulnerabilities?
- Why is this not an affair?
- How do we prevent this?
- Where is God?
- How to start over?
- How should the church respond?
- And much more!
Faith & Fidelity Conference
Our pastoral seminar, Faith & Fidelity, is presented by Steve & Samantha Nelson. We discuss relevant issues such as pornography and temptation, and provide encouragement and support for pastors to remain pure and stay close to Jesus. Additional resources are provided. Approximately four hours is ideal for the presentation (depending on audience size).
A very simple outline of the presentation includes a brief testimony and the following topics:
- Why is this abuse & not an affair?
- A pastor’s temptations
- A woman’s perspective
- 6 steps to avoid falling
- A pastor’s weaknesses
- God’s plan for purity
- And much more!
Trust & Truth Conference
Presented by Steve & Samantha Nelson, the purpose of this conference is to discuss how pastoral sexual misconduct and abuse affects the entire church, not just the pastor and the woman (and their respective families) involved, and how to survive the aftermath. Again, four hours is ideal for the presentation (depending on audience size). A basic outline of the presentation includes a brief testimony and the following topics:
- Why is this abuse & not an affair?
- How could this happen in our church?
- What should we do?
- Who can we trust?
- Coming together
- And much more!
Here’s a bit of feedback about our conferences:
“Excellent material!”—Pastor F. Anderson, CA
“It [the conference] magnified the responsibility that we have as pastors. Keep it up! Lift your voices!”—Pastor D. Tello, CA
“The definition of terms [adultery, abuse, affair] helped my understanding. Your personal experiences made the presentation even more powerful.”—Pastor A. Cano, CA
“[The conference helped me] understand a woman’s point of view. This was excellent—God bless your ministry!”—Pastor F. Showalter, CA
“I learned a lot about “abuse” as opposed to “an affair.” Very good info. I would recommend this to all pastors/church leaders.”—Pastor, CA
“Thanks for sharing your journey, even though I know it is difficult. [The conference gave me a] heightened awareness of the damage to the victim.”—Pastor T. Garner, CA
“Just hearing the perspective of people who went through pain showed me how sexual misconduct can destroy.”—Pastor T. Barnes, CA
“I received an increased knowledge on the subject and I see how I can personally become more careful. It [the conference] was very well done. I appreciate your honesty, passion and spirituality.”—Pastor, CA
Additional info can be found here.
If you would like to learn more or schedule a conference/program in your area, please call (866) 260-8958 or contact us here.
Categories: THOS
Tags: pastoral sexual abuse education clergy sexual misconduct
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