On 25 November the UN started a campaign to ask attention for worldwide violence against women and girls. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, reports show that violence and abuse have increased since. And the numbers were already shockingly high. What can our role as a church be in this? Anyway, it is important that we will not be silent.

In the church service on Sunday 29 November we will pay attention to the theme, looking at the story about David and Bathsheba. The story of David’s abuse is told uncensored. Bathsheba’s #Me Too story uncovers how a man with power abuses a young, married woman for his own pleasure. We see how he made many efforts to cover what he had done. How others cooperate with him. How he uses violence. He thought he could come away with it. When that finally seemed to work and when it seemed that no one would evermore talk about it, God urged the prophet Nathan to break the silence. Regardless your background, religious or not, we invite everyone to join the special church service in the Nieuwe Kerk dealing with the important theme `Abuse exposed’.