How Should We Pray and Act on Our Prayers for Shooting Victims?

First, we should intercede specifically and directly for shooting victims and their families.

Taylor Schumann, who was shot when a gunman opened fire at New River Community College in Virginia six years ago, wrote a remarkable article for Christianity Today listing eleven specific ways we can pray for people like her. I have begun praying as she suggests and encourage you to join me.

Second, we should look for ways to serve those near us.

This Washington Post article shocked me: “Mass shooting incidents probably happened closer to you than you think.” The article locates all the mass killings in America since 2014, then allows us to enter our zip code so we can see how many such tragedies occurred near where we live.

When I entered my zip code, I was told that over the last five years there have been three mass shootings in my county, two mass shootings within ten miles of my home, and thirty mass shootings within one hundred miles of my home.

If you’ll ask God to direct you to a shooting survivor or someone else in need of your compassion, he will answer your prayer. That’s because his word teaches us to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).

Paul Shane Spear observed: “As one person I cannot change the world, but I can change the world of one person.” In her latest blog, my wife responds to the need for Christians to make a proactive difference in our broken culture with this observation: “If God’s people won’t share the light, we are just increasing the darkness.”

With whom will you share the light today?

Read our latest contributed article:

In “Five surefire ways to start a conversation with a Muslim,” Shane Bennett shares simple ways to engage Muslims in conversation. May these suggestions prove helpful to you as you share Christ during your day.