Churches tackle school bullying

posted on December 1, 2005 in News | Be the First to Comment | Print

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An ecumenical group gathered in Winnipeg to discuss the challenges of bullying and how the church can help stop it. As an initiative of the Presbyterian Church's Child and Youth Advisory Committee, formed in 2002, the Canadian Ecumenical Anti-Bullying Initiative created steps it could take to raise awareness of the problem.

"It was an event of great energy and great commitment," said Dorothy Henderson, associate secretary for Christian Education. "We hope that by raising church peoples' awareness of bullying, it will enable them to become advocates in their communities."

Although they didn't have any statistics on how often bullying occurs inside church walls – be it at a youth group, Sunday school, or church function—the group did have experience with the problem. "We told stories of people being coerced, belittled and made to feel bad in church," said Henderson. "Church is a microcosm of society. We don't like to think it [bullying] happens there, but it does."

It certainly happens in Canadian schools. According to the Toronto Board of Education, one child in five between grades four to eight is victimized periodically, while one in 12 is bullied weekly or daily. According to Debra Pepler, a researcher at the LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution at York University, bullying occurs once every seven minutes on elementary school playgrounds. Numerous strategies have been devised to bring the numbers down, and Henderson believes that as long as a commitment to stop bullying remains in the public consciousness, the situation will improve.

To this end, the committee established numerous short and long term goals including creating posters and writing articles that dispel myths and misconceptions, tying initiatives to the World Council of Churches' Decade to Overcome Violence, gaining television and website exposure, producing sermon notes and bulletin inserts on bullying, creating a possible addition to the appendix of the Presbyterian Church's Leading with Care document and planning lessons to be used in Sunday schools.

The group was comprised of representatives from Presbyterian, Anglican, Mennonite, United Church and Christian Reformed traditions. The October gathering was the next step for a committee that had spent several years educating themselves on bullying and how the church might become involved. They devised a definition for the term, saying bullying "demonstrates contempt" and is "a sign of spiritual crisis." They said the church can be a "place of healing and reconciliation" for both bullies and their victims, and has "a unique place to nurture and restore right relationships." – AM