According to Pastor Rafer Owens, a Compton sheriff deputy, a local church partner and friend, the beginning of summer often indicates the start of “gang wars”.
This past weekend, we experienced some violence in our surrounding area. There was shooting a few blocks north of us on Friday where someone was killed. On Saturday, there was a shooting on the street of our friends and church (a few blocks from us) but thank God no one got hurt. Last night, Sunday, someone got shot on the hip one block south of the church, two doors down from the apartment complex where three families from City Church live, including Jessica and Darrell. These shootings have caused fear in our neighborhood but we believe that this is a huge ministry opportunity for our church. Men do things to cause hurt and fear but God can turn it around so His Kingdom can come and be established on Peck Street and the surrounding blocks.
Yesterday after church, our pastor challenged us to respond in love and go out to pray over our neighborhood and see how people are doing. We hope that doors will be open for people to process and pray with our church members.
God is bringing us to a place of peace where we can now say in the midst of all the chaos that God is here! We believe that “No weapon formed against us shall prosper” (Isaiah 54:17) and “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12)
Please pray for:
1. Safety in our community
2. The culprits will be caught and brought to justice.
3. Wisdom for City Church in how to love our community well.
4. Wisdom in how to process these things with our children and others, too.
“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on prayingfor all the saints.” (Ephesians 6:18)
Would you please join us in prayer?
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