Gun violence protest
Protests against gun violence may increase after mass shootings in Atlanta and Boulder, Colo. (Photo by Heather Mount on Unsplash)
Desert Southwest Conference Communications | Sept. 15, 2025
As followers of Jesus Christ and members of The Desert Southwest Conference of The United Methodist Church, we grieve the continued loss of life due to mass shootings in our communities, schools, places of worship, and public spaces. Each act of violence is a tragic reminder of the brokenness of our world and the urgent need for justice, compassion, and peace. Violence within churches and schools that target our most sacred community spaces are the hardest for us to fathom and reminds us how precious our lives truly are.
We believe that every person is created in the image of God and is of sacred worth. Violence against any of God’s children is a violation of this truth and an affront to the gospel of Jesus Christ, who calls us to be peacemakers and agents of healing in a hurting world.
In the spirit of our Wesleyan tradition, which calls us to both personal and social holiness, we cannot remain silent in the face of such tragedy. We mourn with those who mourn, we pray for healing and comfort for victims and their families, and we recommit ourselves to the work of nonviolence, advocacy, and community safety.
The 2020/2024 Book of Resolutions provides us with a list of ways that our churches can be active in preventing these events, and we republish them here as a reminder of our Global Church’s commitment:
As followers of Jesus, called to live into the reality of God’s dream of shalom as described by Micah, we must address the epidemic of gun violence so “that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in God’s paths.” Therefore, we call upon United Methodists to prayerfully address gun violence in their local context. Some of the ways in which to prevent gun violence include the following:
1. For congregations to make preventing gun violence a regular part of our conversations and prayer times. Gun violence must be worshipfully and theologically reflected on, and we encourage United Methodist churches to frame conversations theologically by utilizing resources such as “Kingdom Dreams, Violent Realities: Reflections on Gun Violence from Micah 4:1-4” produced by the General Board of Church and Society.
2. For congregations to assist those affected by gun violence through prayer, pastoral care, creating space, and encouraging survivors to share their stories, financial assistance, and through identifying other resources in their communities as victims of gun violence and their families walk through the process of grieving and healing.
3. For individual United Methodists who own guns as hunters or collectors to safely and securely store their guns and to teach the importance of practicing gun safety.
4. For United Methodist congregations that have not experienced gun violence to form ecumenical and interfaith partnerships with faith communities that have experienced gun violence in order to support them and learn from their experiences.
5. For United Methodist congregations to lead or join in ecumenical or interfaith gatherings for public prayer at sites where gun violence has occurred and partner with law enforcement to help prevent gun violence.
6. For United Methodist congregations to partner with local law-enforcement agencies and community groups to identify gun retailers that engage in retail practices designed to circumvent laws on gun sales and ownership, encourage full legal compliance, and to work with groups like Heeding God’s Call that organize faith-based campaigns to encourage gun retailers to gain full legal compliance with appropriate standards and laws.
7. For United Methodist congregations to display signs that prohibit carrying guns onto church property.
8. For United Methodist congregations to advocate at the local and national level for laws that prevent or reduce gun violence.
2020/2024 Book of Resolutions -3212 Our Call to End Gun Violence
As a Conference, we are also committed to taking tangible steps to support the safety and security of our congregations. To this end, we will be publishing resources and best practices on the Conference Board of Trustees webpage to help local churches assess and strengthen their safety protocols and ways to respond to violence in words and actions.
From Rae Lathrop – Director of Justice & Community Development, David Harris – Church & Society Committee Chair, Church & Society Committee Members, Gun Violence Awareness Taskforce Members.