We, the members of the Sandy Point Community Churches join with our community here in Sandy Point to express our concern about this frightening phenomenon of increasing gun violence resulting in the injury, maiming, and death of too many of our young people. In our respective congregations and from our pulpits, we have consistently spoken out about it, as have our sisters and brothers in virtually every other faith tradition in other communities across the Federation of St Kitts-Nevis. It is clear that our voices have not been persuasive in themselves and our actions too limited to stem the tide of gun violence in general, and here in Sandy Point in particular. There is a growing trend where the frequency of the proclamation of the Gospel in our community is being crowded out by the uncomfortably increasing retort of gunfire.
The Sandy Point Community Churches are deeply concerned about crime in our community in particular, and the value of any life impacted, or taken through and by criminal activity and/or elements. We believe all human life is sacred and created by God and therefore, we call upon all of us to see all human life as significant and valuable. We believe the murder of any person denies the power of Christ to redeem, restore and transform all human beings. Indeed, all of us have been made in the image and likeness of Almighty God. It is in the name of God our Creator, Jesus the Christ and the Holy Spirit, our Comforter, that we offer our prayers for the victims of shootings and we pray especially for the families in our community who have impacted, especially those who have lost loved ones through senseless gun violence. We extend our prayers and commiserations with our grieving community members in the name of the Triune God, “…who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves received from God.” (2 Corinthians 1:4)
All of us as residents of the Sandy Point community have a duty to respect one another, respect ourselves, respect the laws of St Kitts-Nevis and respect the sanctity of life by refraining from violence and by being willing to accept the costs of disobedience. We neither encourage nor condone any form of violence as a legitimate exercise of vigilante justice. We call on all of us to remember that each one of us is subject to the judgment of God.
Violence and, more particularly, gun violence and violence against or involving our youth is a primary concern for the Sandy Point Community Churches. We recognise and deplore violence which kills and injures people. In the name of Christ, who came “and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near” (Ephesians 2:17) and challenged all his disciples to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9), we hereby affirm our faith through vigorous efforts to curb and ultimately eliminate gun violence in our community.
We recognise that this violence is tearing our families apart, destroying our community, testing our faith and cutting short the lives, dignity and hopes of too many of our young people. We have an obligation to respond! However, we recognise that no one response can address these diverse sources of this criminal element in our community. Traditional or contemporary approaches cannot effectively confront them. We are calling on all of us to exercise and exhibit a spirit of collaboration, cooperation and partnership in simultaneously addressing declining family life and the increasing availability of deadly weapons, the lure of gangs and the slavery of drug addiction, the perceived absence of real opportunity for personal growth and development, and the loss of moral values.
Finally, these acts of senseless violence should not be an acceptable occurrence in any community. As community churches we pledge through the grace of God, to continue to address this issue of gun violence and will endeavour to develop and facilitate programmes and activities that seek to enrich the lives of the young people in our community.
May God continue to bless us and our community as we work collaboratively to bring a culture of love and peace in our town.
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