Restored - Ending Violence Against Women

March 2010

Thanks

We are so thankful to God for the amazing provision we have received in so many different ways over the last few months. Tearfund’s support for the incubation, the prayer support of all of you which has proved foundational for moving forward, the volunteers that have given their time and support, the people who have offered their skills to get the alliance underway, and the different ways in which it has worked out for both Peter and Mandy to be able to work as Co-Directors of Restored.  All of this has happened in a short space of time. We are so grateful to God and to you for the support, provision and prayer for making Restored a reality. Thank you.

Thank you also for your continued prayers and dedication to bring about a change in attitude and actions to end violence against women. We have been encouraged by the number of people signed up to pray for this issue and the work. 

UN CSW

Mandy attended the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the UN in New York for the first 2 weeks of March. There was a violence against women “stream” operating throughout the whole fortnight with many horrifying stories shared; some barbaric in nature. The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, spoke frankly about the ongoing need to address the situation of violence against women at his UNiTE campaign update. In December last year he launched a male leaders’ network to end violence against women with high profile men joining in the work. It was a positive step and the Secretary General’s focus on the issue has continued to highlight and keep the issue of VAW on the UN’s agenda. This then influences national agendas through the agreements and resolutions made. Faith Based Organisations did come in for a bit of a battering as being perpetrators of violence rather than preventers. Whilst I spoke up when I had the opportunity, there is still much work to do. We are only at the beginning of a very long journey. The UN CSW in 2013 will have a focus on violence against women. It would be great to have some positive success stories from the church to share at this session.

Ready to launch

Since meeting in October with some of you, and the last prayer update in February, there has been lots of activity around branding, web design and development and the production of some materials ready for the members launch on the 20th April and the public launch on the 26th June. Some of you will have noticed the publicity surrounding Peter Grant’s decision to resign from his role as International Director at Tearfund from September. This meant we went public about Restored a little sooner than expected.  The result was a front page item on Restored in the Church of England newspaper, including the need for the church to engage on ending violence against women. Interviews for the church Times, UCB radio and Transworld radio have been conducted or lined up.
It would be great to pray around the key dates listed below. You are warmly invited to attend the events on 20 April and 26 June.   Please pray for organisations that are considering joining Restored as founder members and let us know if there are organisations that you think we should contact.  We want individuals and churches to engage with the issues as well as practioners in the sector. The ultimate aim is to see relationships transformed and violence against women ended.

Key dates

14 April, 9.00-10.00am
Focus on Restored in staff prayers at Tearfund

14 April, 12.30-1.30pm
Restored soundbite with Natalie and Baggy Collins

20 April, 3.30-4.30pm
Members Launch of Restored

26 June
Public launch; Bringing Hope conference in Colchester See http://faithandfreedom.webs.com/conference.htm

Prayer points

Our priority prayer requests are:

• For men’s attitudes and actions to change so that violence against women is ended;
• For Christians to catch the vision, share God’s heart for this issue and take action; 
• For unity in the church to act as one in ending violence against women
• For the many thousands of women suffering daily in abusive situations that they would find freedom, justice and love
• For the development and launch of Restored; that it will honour God, know his blessing and make a significant difference in addressing VAW;
• For all the practicalities of websites, fundraising etc that this will go smoothly.  
• For Mandy as she has to rearrange her priorities to work more substantially on VAW;
• For Peter as he works on this alongside his other work.- For the right speaking engagements to be selected and for the passion to see VAW ended to be communicated to the church
• That we stay close to God and don’t take any wrong turnings
• Give thanks for the different types of support we have received for this work to enable us to get this far

Thank you for continuing this partnership in prayer. Please do feedback any thoughts, words, pictures that you may have as you pray. We really do value and appreciate you setting aside time to pray over these issues. It is very much appreciated.

Happy Easter J

Mandy Marshall, Peter Grant, Natalie Collins
Restored www.restoredrelationships.org

Restored is a Christian alliance that aims to transform relationships and end violence against women
Restored is currently being incubated by Tearfund and is in the process of becoming a registered charity and company.