Dear Faith Leaders,

 

Shooting after shooting after shooting. Repeating words from little Markiya Simone Dickson’s father, “everybody keeps going down the same path just to get the same results”, as he said after burying his 9 year old daughter hit and killed by a stray bullet from a gun after an argument on a basketball court.

 

Shooting, after another, after another. There’s something we’re not doing, there’s something missing. Could the missing part be the church? It’s not that we don’t have enough churches, the problem is they’ve lost connections with the communities around them, connections that could literally mean the difference between life and death?  Prayer walks, feeding people, and having annual events are all really good things, but let’s come together and talk about a way to re-building those relationships in an even more personal way. Let’s not just have churches in the communities, let be churches in the community.

 

The Mission is to catch people at their most vulnerable times to help them before their situation turns damaging to themselves, their family and the community. Through these relationships we hope people will start to regain trust in the churches and feel comfortable again reaching out to for help rather than trying to handle things on their own. Churches should know when neighbors are sick, getting married, having a baby, etc., but most of all, they should know when they need special love. Let’s do what we can to stop lives from being cut short of God’s plan for them due to circumstances we could have helped stop. 

 

So, if you have a spiritual desire to love your neighbors, literally your neighbors, join us in planning to expand Relationship Building Activities throughout our fine city.

 

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