This blog is a continuation of Surviving Church, an online newsletter which appeared in June and September 2013 for subscribers. The newsletter itself was in response to a letter sent to the Church Times by Chris Pitts and published on June 13th 2013. This letter recounted Chris’ experience of abuse within the evangelical circles that had attracted him as a young man. After the letter some 50 people contacted him recalling similar experiences and sharing their concern over this issue.
The editor of this blog is Stephen Parsons, the author of Ungodly Fear, a study of abuse within the Church. The book was published in 2000 by Lion. Stephen is now retired from full time Anglican ministry and lives in Cumbria. Chris and Stephen are cooperating in agreeing the topics covered in this blog but Stephen is doing the actual writing and management of the site. You are welcome to respond to anything covered by this blog and we hope that our discussion may prove helpful to anyone who has faced or is facing abuse, shunning or being marginalised by Christian groups. Chris himself has a particular concern for those in society who are most vulnerable to this kind of harm, the poor, the ill-educated and those who live on the edge of society. While we will exploring many aspects of this problem of abuse, theoretical as well as practical, we hope to retain an awareness of the needs of these vulnerable individuals who are let down by the Church.