When Gun Violence Spawns a Church Partnership
Brighter Day UMC and Metropolitan UMC have forged a connection inspired by the Book of Resolutions
If you look at a map of our nation’s capital, you will see that the distance between one multisite United Methodist Church in Northwest Washington and another multisite United Methodist Church in Southeast Washington is about 10 miles, and if you drove through the areas around those churches, you would think that they are in different worlds: one affluent, largely white, and largely free of violence; the other economically struggling, largely African American, and caught in the cross-hairs of ongoing violence, much of it gun violence.
As it considered the issue of gun violence, the 2016 General Conference of the United Methodist Church invited “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,” and the wisdom of that call can be seen in the transformative partnership that has been forged between Brighter Day UMC in Southeast DC and Metropolitan UMC in Northwest DC.
The partnership was born on a Sunday in July 2011 when the Metropolitan parish declared itself “Closed for Service,” foregoing its normal Sunday morning schedule to spend the day in worship, fellowship, and service with brothers and sisters at Brighter Day UMC. Over the following five years, we have continued to build relationships, worshipped, and worked together on issues where we share a passion and a commitment to making a difference.
Parkway Overlook – an abandoned public housing development in Southeast DC – is a good example of that work. The 266 units had been closed for many years and its redevelopment had been stalled in endless haggling between DC and Federal agencies. Brighter Day was adjacent to the property and had parishioners who had lived there and were committed to its reopening. Metropolitan brought its history and passion on homelessness issues to the battle, and the ability to make the project a cross-city effort, opening up access to key city officials.
Congregational partnerships lead to community presence
On June 30, 2013, both congregations gathered for a joint worship service at Brighter Day. We were joined by many community leaders, as well as then-DC Mayor Vincent Gray. The service had powerful music from both church’s choirs and moving testimony from former residents who are now advocates for Parkway Overlook. After the benediction, we walked as one congregation to the site of Parkway Overlook around the corner, joined hands in a circle on the street, and prayed for the future of this site. Over the last three years, we have worked together and with the Washington Interfaith Network to get the land released by HUD to the city and $16 million in city money pledged to begin Parkway Overlook’s redevelopment.
Over the years, the congregations have worked together on a variety of projects, including a Summer Academic Camp in the Brighter Day neighborhood, with a STEM curriculum from a NASA grant and youth and adults from both parishes volunteering. We worked together on putting together Thanksgiving baskets for the community; we did pulpit exchanges; we held another joint affordable housing worship and rally on September 20, 2015; we provided backpacks and coats to neighborhood children; Brighter Day’s after-school program and Metropolitan’s Campus Kitchen ministry have joined to provide tutoring and meals to many at-risk children; and we have had wonderful social and community building events at all of the sites in our multisite churches.
Preventing gun violence as one body
All of this work has deeply informed our understanding of gun violence. For Metropolitan members, gun violence was primarily an advocacy issue: passing legislation to reduce the number of guns on the streets and address sensible policies for gun ownership. For Brighter Day members – living in the midst of almost daily gun violence – the issues involve supporting better education, housing, and employment opportunities. We have come to understand that meaningfully addressing gun violence prevention issues requires both perspectives, and a willingness to work jointly for the wholeness (and holiness) of our communities.
The partnership that has been formed has created a strong bridge across those ten miles in Washington, DC, and has been life-changing for our communities of faith and transformative for the neighborhoods that we serve. We have come to trust and rely on each other – we have become family. We feel God’s call to us to minister to those who are most vulnerable, and we work together to be God’s hands and feet in a city in desperate need. The gun violence statistics in DC are indeed daunting, but with God’s help, transformation will happen.
Editor’s Note: Rev. Ernest D. Lyles, Sr. is the Senior Pastor for Brighter Day Ministries (Formerly A.P. Shaw UMC and Congress Heights UMC), and Rev. Dr. Charles A. Parker is the Senior Pastor for The Metropolitan Church (A Multisite United Methodist Community comprised of Metropolitan Memorial UMC, Wesley UMC, and St. Luke’s Mission Center).
