Twelve years of research into the devastating impact of pornography has led to a landmark initiative offering Christians, and churches, solutions – not shame.
Headed up by the Rev Dr Marshall Ballantine-Jones, Resist Ministries has been established to counter a problem affecting “enormous numbers” of Christians.
Current studies show that between 70 and 90 per cent of men and 20-40 per cent of women in society actively engage with pornography. Alarmingly, Dr Ballantine-Jones says the figures are not much different within church communities:
“We're finding numbers of 70 per cent of men and 20 per cent of females are actively engaging with pornography as well.”
The alarm was first raised in 2013. “We did a study examining the potential impact of pornography on clergy and church leaders and found a significant effect,” Dr Ballantine-Jones says. But he also discovered there was very little research on how to address problematic pornography behaviours.
"I went on to do a PhD to examine that question and in the aftermath of that research I started to explore how to help churches in an effective way. The Resist Ministry project emerged out of that idea."
The need, he found, was urgent.
"We're talking about engaging with content which is extreme, which really perverts good sexuality, which dehumanises people, which amplifies a deeply selfish and utterly unloving perspective on one another that objectifies people; that really stacks social pressure against the more vulnerable people and the ones more inclined to be objectified, which is our young females.”
“Afflicted” by unwanted desires
Addiction, he says, is common in church communities.
“People are afflicted by unwanted sexual desires and so there's so many people who right now are lining up for help. But we also know there's a lot of shame, a lot of guilt and a lot of confusion from leaders and others, and so a lot of isolation. So people feel like they don't have anywhere to turn, and we want to show them that that support is there, they don't have to battle alone.”
Resist Ministries, which has now been granted charity status with tax deductibility for donations, offers three forms of help. First, the Resist Recovery Program, which churches can run themselves. “It's a five-week course, it's low cost, highly accessible and very engaging. It's been run many dozens of times and it keeps evolving to meet the needs of individual communities."
Second, it provides education and training, so leaders are not only able to navigate their communities through online sexualised media but can also empathetically assist people through change. More than 90 facilitators have now been trained through courses being run every month.
Third, there are seminars and talks provided to churches and special interest groups about online risks, addiction and sexualised behaviours. A line-up of experts inform the Resist material, including well-known sexologist Dr Patricia Weerakoon, who explains on video how brain chemistry is affected by porn.
“Porn is this super stimulation of sexuality,” she says. “It affects yourself, your thinking, your desire for your wife, your behaviour in the bedroom, your relationship with your children, your relationship with your lives, your family and friends, and, of course, ultimately your church.”
Dr Weerakoon says the impact is even being seen in school playgrounds. “Primary schoolers are being exposed to pornography. We are seeing increasing numbers of child-on-child sexual abuse. So, from a very young age, we are setting neuroplastic changes [in the brain] to accept pornified imagery and pornified behaviour as acceptable.”
This can't wait
Daniel Principe, a youth adviser who appears in the Resist Recovery videos, urges men and women to seek help. “If you feel bad because of consuming porn or committing any other sins or harms to other people… that's probably a good thing,” he says. “Just don't live there. That’s not gonna motivate you to be transformed.”
For Dr Ballantine-Jones, those 12 years of preparation have left him with an urgent calling.
"We know that the more you engage with pornography, the more likely you are, firstly, to see people purely as sex objects, to strip away from them their character, their value, their worth. We also know that it increases insecurities, it amplifies depression and anxiety. It puts at risk faithfulness in married relationships.
“We know that at the neurological level there's compromise and harm caused by addictive behaviours.
The issue, he warns, is not just one of psychological damage but of deep spiritual compromise.
“At a spiritual level we know the effect is at its most deep... that's where people are skewed from a wholehearted discipleship with the Lord,” he says. “The church can't sit back and wait for a generation to slowly wean themselves off this.
“Right now, we have generations of people who are already struggling with hypocrisy, struggling with addiction, struggling with ungodliness and this affects everyone.”
For more information see www.resistministries.org
