The Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham requests your faithful partnership. Our organization exists to bear witness to the sanctity of life and to act to prevent and rectify the injustice of violence in our city. We urge you to take part in one segment of our ministry, the prayer vigils for the loved ones of Durham’s homicide victims. These prayer vigils consist of gathering together with the family and friends of those who have been slain in our streets, for a brief time of commemoration, grieving, prayer, and proclamation. Our aim is to publicly recognize the human worth of the victim, to comfort family and friends, and to sanctify the site where the violence occurred. We invite your congregation to participate in two ways: first, by lifting up in prayer the families, victims, and perpetrators of homicide in Durham; second, by having your congregation represented in some capacity at the vigils, most especially at vigils that take place in neighborhoods under your church’s ministry.

Since beginning the Vigil Ministry in 1997, the Religious Coalition has conducted over 200 vigils. Our community suffers an average of thirty murders per year. During 2005, forty people were killed, 31 fatally shot. The family and friends of these victims frequently report a sense of shame about their beloved’s violent death, regardless of the facts of the incident. They are surprised and disheartened by the silence from the community-at-large to their loss. They are often wary of the criminal justice system and find it difficult to understand their place in it. They are grateful for the opportunity to mourn and honor their loved one among people of faith who acknowledge the dignity and worth of the victim, recognize their traumatic loss, and offer their prayers, love and community’s resources for healing and wholeness. One mother of a slain child said that the vigil was “like a period at the end of a sentence.” It brought relief to know that others cared about them and did not judge them or her son. “George’s vigil was like a prayer that goes down in your soul,” she said.

We believe that every homicide in Durham poses the question, what will be the response of the faith community? How could it be that the church does not “have time” to respond to the tragedy of human death? We ask you to prayerfully and scripturally discern what should be the response of your congregation to the homicides that occur in our city. Please consider:

• Putting an announcement in the bulletin encouraging parishioners to get on the vigil notification email list. They need only send an email to mowen8@nc.rr.org with the subject line: “add me to vigil list serve”. Parishioners will then receive notification of each vigil in Durham. Being on the list comes with absolutely no obligation.
• Announcing from the pulpit or in the bulletin vigils in the neighborhoods under your church’s ministry, and making every effort to be represented at those vigils. This would require that someone in the church office be on the vigil listserve.
• Organizing a team of parishioners who have a passion for social justice in this city and can oversee and encourage your church’s involvement in the vigils, or any other aspects of the ministry (see brochure).
• Making available to congregants the brochure that we have included with this letter.
• Praying weekly for the victims, families, and perpetrators of homicide in Durham.

We would be delighted to be in conversation with you about these matters. Please contact us at mowen8@nc.rr.com or at 919-489-3531. We covet your insight and advice on how we can better involve the congregations of Durham in this ministry. Peace to you.