VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 12/14/12)—American Baptist leaders today asked American Baptists and others around the United States and the world to keep the community of Newtown, Connecticut, and those touched by the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in their prayers in the days and weeks ahead.
“May God bring comfort and healing to all of those involved in the shooting this morning in Newtown, Connecticut. May we all keep the families and friends of those injured and killed in our prayers,” said General Secretary Roy Medley. “Additionally, continue to pray for teachers, administrators and all children attending the school who lived through this event, and all those affected in some way.”
Dr. Aidsand F Wright-Riggins III, executive director of American Baptist Home Mission Societies, said, “We are shocked and saddened by this senseless shooting and the deaths and injuries in its aftermath. Our hearts go out to the victims and their families of this horrendous act. As I bend my knees in prayer I also steel my spine to be a more outspoken advocate for the control of guns in this country.”
According to reports, over 25 persons, many of them children, were killed by a man who opened fire in the school. Many more were wounded, according to initial reports.
The most recent ABCUSA statement on the topic, the American Baptist Policy Statement on Violence, says, “We affirm a belief that, through the biblical vision of shalom and the example of Jesus Christ, the Christian community is called to respond prophetically and pastorally to the existing reality of violence in the world.”
The full American Baptist Policy Statement on Violence can be viewed here.
American Baptist Churches USA is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with over 5,200 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.