ABEL was created in 2021 by a group of members of the Church of England with many years' experience of researching and supporting targets of bullying within a church context out of concern for what appears to be a growing problem within the Church of England and which was not being well-addressed by its national structures.

 

We currently share hosting with the Leonidas Project, another voluntary research initiative, which undertakes global research into bullying within religious organisations. ABEL is entirely independent of Leonidas.

 

We are an entirely voluntary group who give their time to address the issue of bullying in the Church of England as well as in other church environments.  

 

Our purpose is to provide information and support resources for targets as well as to assist in the development of policies to reduce, eliminate or prevent bullying in churches.

 

The founding members of ABEL are:

Clive Billenness

David Brown

Gavin Drake

Janet Fife

Rhona Knight

Anne Lee

Lorraine Turner

 

 

Our first activity has been to organise an Online Conference

Pedestals, Pulpits & Pews: Perspectives on Bullying in The Church of England

to take place on 31st May 2022

 

We shall be presenting our conference findings online and also at the General Synod of the Church of England
at its meetings in York in July 2022

 

 

We can be contacted at contact@abel.org.uk