When I first started speaking out about the abuse I faced within a church, there were a lot of critics and trolls.
One that stands out in my memory was when someone commented on Instagram under a video I posted calling out the abuse I faced, “I get that you’re church hurt, but you need to calm down.”
I noticed that the term “church hurt” simply didn’t reflect the gravity of the issues being addressed.
Over the last two and a half years of speaking out about abuse within churches, I’ve uncovered instances of horrific abuse within the church I used to attend. Surviving Universal UK was born in response to fellow victims and survivors speaking about serious issues within the church.
Instances of financial exploitation, emotional and psychological abuse, coercive control, child labour and even physical abuse; stories of young people being subjected to “gay conversion therapy” and being told that homosexuality is demonic. Now, call me crazy, but those kinds of themes go way above ‘hurt’. It’s abuse, plain and simple.