Beginning Feb. 4, Presbyterian Peace Fellowship will offer action circles on protecting children from gun violence
The new program will help to implement a 2024 General Assembly action
Imagine a school bus of 50 children crashing, killing every child, every four days for a year. Year after year after year. Wouldn’t we do something about it?
That is the equivalent number of children being killed by gun violence in the United States today — about 50 children every four days. Since 2020, gun violence has been the top killer of American children — more than cancer, vehicle crashes or any other disaster. It has been the number one killer of children of color since 2006.
Starting February 4, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship will launch “Protecting Children from Gun Violence: Imagining a New World.” This is a new action circle experience created by educators, church leaders and pastors in the Fellowship’s Gun Violence Prevention Ministry. The faith-based action circles will gather participants on Zoom for one hour weekly on five Wednesdays at noon Eastern Time. The winter action circles run Feb. 4- March 4 and the Spring Circles run April 15-May 13. Four cycles will be offered each year. Participants can bring a bag lunch or breakfast, depending on their time zone. The Action Circles are ecumenical and are offered free of charge. Learn more about the action circles here.
“The more I learn about this, the more I see that local congregations are crucial to intervening in child gun violence, and our faith in Jesus Christ begs us to do so,” says Julie Burchett, a parent, educator, elder at Webster Groves Presbyterian Church in St. Louis and moderator of the PPF’s Protecting Children from Gun Violence Team. “The problem is that churches don’t always know where to start or how to build consensus to take action.”
In 2024, the 226th General Assembly unanimously passed an overture “Calling for Action so that Children May Live Free from Gun Violence.” It calls upon every Presbyterian congregation to take some step to help save young lives from gun violence. PPF offers a downloadable brochure for congregations on the GA Action.
“The Protecting Children action circles will help church members across the country to implement the GA action,” says the Rev. Margery Rossi, PPF’s minister for Gun Violence Prevention. “We will learn together about causes of child gun violence, from homicides to suicides to domestic violence to unintentional shootings. Participants will learn about a wide range of action options and help one another find an action best suited for their church. The hopeful thing about this horrible issue is that there are so many things that we can do to save child lives. There is an action for everyone.”
The five weeks cover these five topics:
Session 1 — Children in The Crossfire: How Did We Get Here?
Session 2 — Saving Children’s Lives with Secure Storage Programs
Session 3 — Seeing Our Children: The Spiritual and Mental Health of Children in the Crossfire
Session 4 — Direct Action Options for Real Safety for Children
Session 5 — Advocacy, Voting and Next Steps for Your Congregation
Each week, participants will hear content from a range of experts and from their fellow Americans who have been impacted by gun violence against children and youth. Sessions include songs, prayers written by children, a testimony from an Atlanta-area student, the stories of gun violence survivors and evidence-based research on how gun violence impacting children and youth can best be countered. Participants will have about one hour of homework/preparation prior to each session.
The protecting children action circles are modeled on the Guns to Gardens action circles that the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship has offered for the last five years, with nearly 600 participants from about 20 denominations over that time. Like the Guns to Gardens Action Circles, protecting children circles will be led by volunteers skilled in guiding a faith group through painful material toward practical, faithful action.
The program is designed for adults, parents, grandparents, teachers, pastors, church leaders, veterans, health professionals, gun violence survivors and others who believe that “Children are a heritage from the Lord” (Ps. 127). It’s for those who own firearms and those who do not. It’s for people of faith who are willing to face a difficult issue together in order to protect and nurture the children and youth in our midst. If that is you — and others from your congregation — please sign up for the winter or spring action circles. Summer and fall dates will be announced later. For questions, suggestions or to receive summer and fall dates, contact [email protected]
More on Presbyterian Peace Fellowship
Founded in 1944, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship is a nationwide community of Christians committed to the nonviolence of Jesus Christ. PPF equips congregations and individuals to seek practical alternatives to violence and war, including gun violence. An independent nonprofit group, PPF operates with volunteers and a small staff, collaborating with the PC(USA) and encouraging this work in congregations and with ecumenical partners.
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