‘Something the faith community can’t ignore’: Lititz Church of the Brethren dedicates memorial to those killed by gun violence

Dozens of colorful t-shirts emblazoned with names, ages and dates will stand vigil outside the Lititz Church of the Brethren beginning this weekend.

Each shirt represents a life lost to gun violence in Lancaster County and Harrisburg. The memorial will be in place until Sept. 28.

"Never forget the potential that has been lost," Lititz Church of the Brethren Pastor Jim Grossnickle-Batterton said during the memorial's dedication ceremony Saturday.

The installation is one of 250 "Memorials to the Lost" created by Heeding God's Call to End Gun Violence, a faith-based organization headquartered in Philadelphia which is dedicated to mobilizing the faith community to end gun violence through public witness.

"Our organization started in front of a Philadelphia gun store in 2008," said Bryan Miller, the executive director of Heeding God's Call. "A tiny group of friends working together."

Miller said the organization began as a group of like-minded Christians that held prayer and outreach events in front of Colosimo's Gun Center, a notorious Philadelphia gun store known for selling guns that were traced to crimes throughout the city.

The organization staged protests, sit-ins and prayer vigils outside the store until it was shut down in 2009 for violations of federal firearms laws in connection with selling guns to straw purchasers, or people who buy guns for other individuals prohibited by law from possessing them.

In the years since their protests outside Colosimo's Gun Center, Heeding God's Call has spread to five states and partnered with hundreds of schools and churches to create Memorials to the Lost.

Miller said the Memorial to the Lost was meant to be a one-time event at a church in Philadelphia, but word of mouth led more churches to contact the organization about holding their own memorials.

That's how the congregation Lititz Church of the Brethren became interested in holding a memorial.

"In recent years the national scope of gun violence has awoken this issue for all of us," Grossnickle-Batterton said. "We know the names of Newtown and Uvalde because of gun violence. This is something the faith community can't ignore."

Grossnickle-Batterton led a group of a few dozen faithful gathered Saturday in prayers and hymns in the Lititz Church of the Brethren parking lot to dedicate the memorial.

"In our tradition, the Church of the Brethren has opposed violence in all its forms," Grossnickle-Batterton said in the dedications ceremony's opening words. "We follow the call of Jesus to be nonviolent in this violent world."

'A Powerful Purpose'

For some gathered at the church, the connection to gun violence was deeply personal.

Lindsey Martin, of Lancaster, lost her fiance, Kendell Cook, in 2021 to a shooting in his Carlisle barbershop.

"It's a daily struggle for us," Martin said. "It doesn't always get easier."

Martin has tried to turn the tragedy into a positive by working with organizations like Heeding God's Call to create events like an annual Thanksgiving meal to promote awareness of gun violence, held at Crispus Attucks Community Center and a Peace in the Streets Block Party, both in Lancaster city, to honor Cook's memory.

While much of her work is focused in the city, Martin said she wishes people throughout the county would take gun violence prevention seriously.

"People don't think it can happen to them," Martin said. "It's important to remind people it can happen anywhere."

For Miller, his passion for ending gun violence started after the shooting death of his brother, an FBI agent who was killed while working with the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan police in 1994.

"When I get up in the morning, I think of Mike," Miller said. "And I think of all the things we can do to create change. It gives me a powerful purpose."

Heeding God's Call plans to hold additional memorials in Lancaster County and throughout Pennsylvania as part of its ongoing mission.

Despite the daunting task of changing state and federal gun laws, Miller remains optimistic.

"The missing component is the faith community," Miller told those who gathered in Lititz on Saturday. "If members of the faith took up the cause of ending gun violence, we could create change in very little time."