NEW WESTMINSTER, BC-A Christian-run women's shelter based in New Westminster turns away many more women and children than it can take in, partly because most churches fail to grasp how severe the problem of spousal abuse is even within their congregations.

"For the most part, a church is inadequately prepared to recognize and understand and respond appropriately to this issue," says Lorrie Wasyliw, executive director of the non-profit WINGS (Women in Need Gaining Strength) Fellowship Ministries.

"We don't know enough [about] this need in our society today-not just in the church, but also outside the church."

WINGS operates two shelters. Monarch Place is an emergency shelter where the longest stay is one month. Chrysalis Place provides subsidized housing for up to a year. More recently, it has formed support groups for Christian women in abusive relationships

Since opening in 1998, Monarch Place has taken in about 155 women and 94 children each year. But three times as many are denied access for lack of space.

Some grim facts underscore the need.

Family violence comprised a fourth of all violent crimes in 2001, Statistics Canada reported last year. Of these, two-thirds involved spousal or partner violence-with 85 per cent of the victims being women.

Wasyliw says there is "every reason" to believe that there is as much domestic violence within the church as there is outside it.

For example, a 1991 study of Mennonite households in Winnipeg found that "women were victims of various kinds of abuse within supposedly ‘peace-loving' homes." Two years later, women surveyed by the Mennonite Central Committee ranked domestic violence their top concern.

Because Monarch Place receives government funding, no one who seeks their help is excluded. But women quickly become aware of its Christian emphasis-from Bibles on the nightstands to Veggie Tales videos for their children.

And while the staff, who are all Christians, must not initiate a conversation about religion, Wasyliw says the subject usually comes up naturally.

"The minute that woman walks in the door, we enter quite an intimate relationship with her, because she is telling us things that she has never told anybody else," she says.

"We have led a number of women to the Lord."

Audrey's (not her real name) story is typical. She turned up at Monarch Place a year ago, after fleeing a terrifying relationship.

"I've never met so many women that have so much love and so much caring. For each and every woman that comes through there, that's what they receive," she says.

"The program helped me understand that [the abuse] really wasn't my fault. It taught me to re-build my self-worth and to deal with the issues I had to deal with to make my life complete again. And there's so much work still to be done."

Audrey has since joined a church. In February, she was baptized.

It is a message of hope and help that she and Wasyliw are now taking directly to churches.

Wasyliw says spousal abuse can be especially bewildering and stressful for Christian women who take their marriage vows seriously.

"They stood before God and man and promised to live together till death do us part. They entered into a covenant. So there's a huge issue of guilt and shame"and sticking to those vows," she says.

Yet the tendency of most Christian couples is to presume that a woman who accuses her husband of being abusive is exaggerating, because they have no experience of this in their own marriages.

"And so my goal," Wasyliw says, "is to help them understand that those people sitting beside them in the pew who are dealing with this deserve their understanding, and not their judgment."

Despite the pressing need, there are very few similar Christian-based shelters anywhere in Canada-a reality that prompts Wasyliw to seek out "every and any opportunity" to expand their ministry.

"I would entertain a conversation with anybody from anywhere regarding possibilities."

WINGS is affiliated with the B.C. and Yukon Fellowship Baptist Churches.