Presbyterian Mission Agency gun violence Archives

Presbyterian pastor calls for end to gun violence, promotes Guns to Gardens event

Posted June 6th, 2024

A Louisville, Kentucky, pastor summed up the nation’s gun violence crisis with a three-word refrain on Wednesday: “Enough is enough.” The Rev. Dr. Angela Johnson, pastor of Louisville’s Grace Hope Presbyterian Church, delivered a brief but powerful sermon during a morning chapel service for employees of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

PC(USA)-related camp fosters healing for survivors of school violence

Posted October 19th, 2023

After a deadly shooting at Westside Middle School near Jonesboro, Arkansas, David Gill and others pined for a way to aid students in their emotional and spiritual recovery. He began delving into the idea of holding a healing camp at Ferncliff Camp and Conference Center, where he worked a few hours away.

‘A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast’ looks at upstream ways for ending gun violence

Posted September 7th, 2023

In her efforts combatting gun violence, the Rev. M. Courtenay Willcox prefers going upstream with her activism.

Presbyterian Peace Fellowship asks: How does your Guns to Gardens grow?

Posted June 13th, 2023

On a June Saturday in Concord, New Hampshire, a young couple with a baby in a car seat drove up to the Wesley United Methodist Church to safely surrender a handgun. Why? “New baby!”

Louisville’s Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church hosts a vigil following Monday’s mass shooting

Posted April 10th, 2023

During an interfaith service held at Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church Monday following the morning’s mass shooting at Old National Bank, Rabbi Ben Freed of Keneseth Israel Congregation in Louisville pointed out it isn’t God who’s beating swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks in the Book of Isaiah.

The PC(USA)’s Office of Public Witness asks Presbyterians to take action to end gun violence

Posted March 31st, 2023

The Office of Public Witness is asking Presbyterians to demand that members of Congress act immediately to reduce gun violence in the United States, which has seen 130 mass shootings since Jan. 1.

Presbyterian churches in Louisville take the plowshares approach toward halting gun violence

Posted December 9th, 2022

It took a village for churches and other organizations in Louisville to pull off a recent Guns to Gardens event, including the village blacksmith.

What do we do about guns and violence in America?

Posted July 27th, 2022

Malcolm Graham, who represents District 2 on the Charlotte City Council, is as qualified as anyone to speak on a panel discussing gun violence, as Union Presbyterian Seminary’s Center for Social Justice and Reconciliation offered Tuesday.

‘Navigator of Peace’ the Rev. Jack Mathison dies at 97

Posted July 27th, 2022

The Rev. John Thomas “Jack” Mathison, navigator of peace, died on May 24 at age 97 after a period of declining health, in Richmond, Virginia, according to an obituary published in the Washington Post this week. He was the widower of Elaine (Sauerwein).

Raising their voices against gun violence

Posted June 15th, 2022

The Rev. Jimmie Hawkins of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was among thousands of people who attended the March for Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C., last weekend to persuade elected officials to take meaningful action to stop the gun violence that’s ravaging the nation.