Volume 168 | Issue 6
October 2022
A bishop's calling
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What can United Methodists do? The work of advocacy is not limited to bishops. The United Methodist Board of Church and Society offers the following steps church members can take to advocate for gun safety. • Contact your elected leaders via the Church and Society action alerts, sign up to receive the agency’s emails and use the resources from the Creating Change Together Toolkit. • Get in touch with Church and Society staff and other United Methodists doing the work.
Shortly after the mass shooting at the Fourth of July Parade in Highland Park, Christ UMC in Deerfield made and sold “Highland Park Strong” signs to raise money for a community fund to help the victims from that horrific day. After worship on July 17, the church put the purchased signs on the church lawn facing busy Deerfield Road and made them available for anyone to take free for their own yards. Within hours, many cars stopped and they gave away nearly 100 signs. "It was amazing to provide our community an opportunity to join us in raising awareness and blessing others," said Rev. Esther Lee.
• Hold a prayer vigil. The Creating Change Together Toolkit offers resources for doing so.
Bishops call for prayer and action against gun violence By Heather Hahn*
United Methodists will need to both pray and act to end the scourge of gun violence, says a letter the Council of Bishops released Sept. 1 to the wider church. “As people of prayer, we followers of Jesus are called to be ‘counter-cultural change makers,’” the letter says. “To that end, we must reject the idolatry of guns and the distorted attachments to our right to own guns without safeguards for the communities of the world.” United Methodist bishops unanimously adopted the letter Aug. 26 during the final day of their online summer meeting. Only active bishops vote on Council of Bishops actions. However, all United Methodist bishops signed the document. The statement also will form the basis of a letter the bishops plan to send to the U.S. Congress and White House. In a denomination with more than 12 million members across four continents, the bishops also stress that gun violence is not just a U.S. problem. The bishops’ statement cites Amnesty International, which reports that about 2,000 people are injured and 500 people die by gunshots every day. United Methodists — long committed to transforming the world to be more like Christ’s example — have a role to play in addressing the crisis, the bishops said.
“This is a call to prayer, beginning this September, for all who follow Jesus, the Prince of Peace,” the bishops’ statement said. “This is a call to action for all to weep with those who weep and demand, insist on, and push for positive change from our elected officials.” The statement goes on to urge congregations to collaborate with ecumenical and interfaith partners in their public witness. The statement also encourages the use of United Methodist resources for Bible study and advocacy in efforts to reduce gun violence. Bishop Julius C. Trimble, who leads the Indiana Conference, proposed the letter on behalf of the bishops’ Justice and Reconciliation Leadership Team. “It is always the right time to do the right thing,” he told UM News after the bishops’ meeting. “We are in an emergency when it comes to gun violence in America and around the globe. I believe we have a moral obligation as bishops to offer more than ‘thoughts and prayers.’” The bishops decided to take up of the issue of firearms following deadly massacres at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York; a church in Laguna Woods, California; an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas; and a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois. (continued on page 3, see From the Cover)
• Encourage congregational Bible study. The United Methodist Church’s Kingdom Dreams, Violent Realities Bible Study provides a three-session gun violence prevention Bible study. • Build coalitions with other organizations in your local community interested in this issue. Church and Society organizing staff can help you with some best practices for grassroots activism. • For all these resources, visit the agency’s website at umcjustice.org. “The question of how to live as a Christian in a violent world is not particular to our time or our context, but firearms make violence more deadly and more frequent,” the Rev. Susan Henry-Crowe, Church and Society's General Secretary, said. “We would encourage United Methodists to heed the call from the bishops, to prayerfully study Scripture and listen to stories from survivors, and then to take concrete actions that help to build the kingdom of God on earth.”
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