In Partners at War in the Home, Sonia Martin highlights the problem of intimate partner violence to enhance awareness and to promote changes in church leadership. Countless women who have been victimized by intimate partners suffer from short-term and long-lasting emotional, physical, and financial consequences. They are vulnerable to developing psychological fear, PTSD, insomnia, anxiety, depressed mood, substance use/abuse, and many other serious physical health issues. So, what can be done about intimate partner violence? Professional leaders, including church leadership, must minister to the spiritual, psychological, and emotional needs of abused women. It is essential that church leadership and the congregations be educated on effective ways to hold abusive men accountable. The church can do more by offering a safe sanctuary, helping with formulating a safety plan, providing resources and interventions to aid in emotional healing, and facilitating empowerment for abused Black sisters. Hopefully, this research can be counted among the other resources that are available in the African American church community, and both clergy and laity will benefit from its existence in the body of literature on intimate partner violence.
Despre autor
Sonia Martin was born in Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies and she migrated to the United States of America over forty years ago. She is a graduate of New York University in New York City, where she obtained a master’s degree in Social Work. Additionally, she has a master’s degree in Pastoral Care and Counseling from New York Theological Seminary, located in New York. Sonia Martin recently successfully completed a Doctorate in Ministry degree program at Northeastern Seminary, Rochester New York. Sonia Martin has been actively involved in church ministry for more than forty-five years. Sonia Martin was ordained as an Evangelist in 2013 and as a Minister in 2023. Currently, she is a Social Work Supervisor at Arch Care Senior Life, Westchester New York. Last, but not least, she is the proud mother of two sons.