Seeds of Security

Domestic Violence/Intimate Partner Violence (DV/IPV) Prevention Network

Mission Statement

Seeds of Security, an entity of The Baltimore-Washington Conference of The United Methodist Church, is a collaboration of networks and persons committed to educating, advocating, resourcing, and providing safe haven for survivors of Domestic Violence/Intimate Partner Violence (DV/IPV).

Vision Statement

Our vision is to be a source of healing for persons experiencing the practical, relational, and spiritual impact of intimate partner violence.

Statistics:

An average of 24 people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States — more than 12 million women and men over the course of a single year.
Nearly 3 in 10 women (29%) and 1 in 10 men (10%) in the US have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by a partner and reported it having a related impact on their functioning.
Just under 15% of women (14.8%) and 4% of men in the US have been injured as a result of intimate partner violence that included rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner.
1 in 4 women (24.3%) and 1 in 7 men (13.8%) aged 18 and older in the US have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
Intimate partner violence alone affects more than 12 million people every year.
Over 1 in 3 women (35.6%) and 1 in 4 men (28.5%) in the US have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
Almost half of all women and men in the US have experienced psychological aggression by an intimate partner in their lifetime (48.4% and 48.8%, respectively).

Scriptural Foundation for our Work:

John 10:10 and ff.
“I came that they may have life and have it more abundantly.” (God’s vision for wellbeing.)

Luke 10:25-37
²⁷‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself…
³⁰A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.
³¹A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.
³²So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
³³But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.
³⁴He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.
³⁵The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
³⁶“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
³⁷The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”