The senior leadership of the South Carolina Baptist Convention is calling on Christians across the state to pray for families of the victims of a shooting that left nine people dead inside an African-American church in Charleston on June 17.
Tommy Kelly, pastor of Varnville First Baptist Church and president of the state convention, asked Christians to “pray for comfort for the victims’ families and friends.” He also called for a “unified prayerful effort of all people for these and other victims of such senseless violence.”
Richard Harris, executive director-treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, said the leadership of the convention stands “with our brothers and sisters [of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church] in prayer and in Christian love and sorrow.”
Harris, in a prepared statement, called on the state convention’s 2,138 churches and their leaders to “join us in prayer and support of our fellow Christians in Charleston.” He pledged the assistance of the SCBC “in any way possible.”
“The violent acts of unspeakable evil committed by this young man on Wednesday evening in one of our sacred houses of worship are evil and deplorable beyond words,” said Harris in his statement. “He obviously needs the prayers of Christians.
“I would request that any Christian anywhere would join us in prayer and support for this wonderful church and church family in Charleston.”
Statement from Tommy Kelly:
All South Carolina Baptist Convention churches are shocked and saddened by the shooting and deaths of the nine victims at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. As South Carolina Baptist Convention president, I admonish all Christians to pray for comfort for the victims’ families and friends as well as a unified prayerful effort of all people for these and other victims of such senseless violence. May we all remember Christ’s very words from the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:6).
Statement from Richard Harris:
The news of the tragic shooting in Charleston at the Emanuel AME Church breaks my heart and that of our leadership in the South Carolina Baptist Convention. This act of violence against our brothers and sisters in Christ is deplorable and evil, and appears to be anti-Christian. We stand with our brothers and sisters in prayer and in Christian love and sorrow. We stand ready to assist this church and its members where their beloved Pastor and District 45 State Senator, Reverend Clementa Pinckney, was killed. Our leadership is calling our South Carolina Baptist Convention staff to a time of prayer today, and we are calling on all of our 2,138 churches and church leaders to join us in prayer and support of our fellow Christians in Charleston. We stand ready to assist in any way possible and will be investigating how we can assist in any way.
The violent acts of unspeakable evil committed by this young man on Wednesday evening in one of our sacred houses of worship are evil and deplorable beyond words. He obviously needs the prayers of Christians. The appearance of such a tragedy in a Christian church in South Carolina is a wake-up call for the need of Christians all across the state and America to stand heart to heart and hand to hand in total rejection of such horrendous acts of violence upon anyone, particularly Christians. I would request that any Christian anywhere would join us in prayer and support for this wonderful church and church family in Charleston. Let’s be praying for all the families who have been touched by this tragedy.