June 11, 2001

Church tackles family violence
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___DALLAS--Metropolitan Tabernacle Baptist Church is opening a new door of ministry. And by doing so, Pastor W.J. Atkins hopes to close the door on domestic violence.
___Atkins, founding pastor of the southeast Oak Cliff church, also is a licensed professional counselor. Until last fall, he also worked full-time at the Family Place as an intervention counselor.
___This month, his church will open its own counseling center in an attempt to address domestic violence in area families before they get into the legal system. The center also will offer general family counseling unrelated to abuse.
___Atkins and other members of the congregation are renovating a frame house that sits next door to the church building. It will have a reception area, several smaller counseling rooms and two rooms for group therapy.
___Atkins took an interest in counseling because he felt inadequate to handle the issues church members were bringing to him, he said. "I didn't feel prepared to deal with some of the behaviors I saw in my congregation."
___So the Dallas Baptist University graduate sought additional training, earning a master's degree in counseling and licensing as a professional counselor.
___Along the way, he learned that the problem cases he encountered were not just the byproduct of "bad" people but of bad behavior. And he learned that domestic violence is a bigger problem in Dallas--and even in his own church--than he ever realized.
___His church began observing domestic violence awareness month each February. As part of that observance, some members testified about their own direct experience with abuse.
___Atkins hopes to stop family abuse in its tracks--or at least reduce the number of families torn apart by it.
___Most men who physically or verbally abuse women believe their behavior cannot be changed, he said. "But we teach them that such behavior is a choice."
___Men who are abusive act that way to control other people, Atkins said. Once this is understood, both the perpetrators and victims of family violence can work toward alternate patterns of behavior.
___Helping create healthy families in the community is a natural expression of the church's mission, the pastor said. "The mission of the church is to meet the needs of the community. To live in safety is a need we all have.
___"If we can stop the violence in our homes, we're going to stop the violence in the streets."

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