As October comes to a close, Metropolitan Community Church of the Quad Cities is shining a light on domestic violence awareness month.

This is the first time the Davenport church has hosted a candlelight service focused on the topic.

The service was sparked in part by the large number of people using social media #MeToo, identifying as a survivor of sexual violence.

The church says the service is a way to honor their pain while also providing support, bringing understanding and using candles as a way to bring the issues to light.

MCCQC Rev. Rich Hendricks said, “It needs to be bought into the light so that this doesn’t continue to happen so that women and others aren’t victimized, aren’t preyed upon the way that they are routinely preyed upon.”

MCCQC member Jennifer Robb said, “We just need to take some accountability for this. We can’t not talk about it, and I think that the more visible that we can make it, the more people willing to come forth and share their own stories will help others that maybe don’t feel powerful enough to do that yet and that we can’t judge.”

Each of the candles lit represent someone touched by the issue.

The service also talked about local resources and services for victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence.