A British pastor who lost her son to a knife attack has appealed to churches to become part of the solution to the soaring murder rate in the nation’s capital of London.
Pastor Hopes Charges Will Be Dropped Against Man Who Violently Carjacked Him
The violent epidemic continues to worsen in the historic tourist destination — yesterday, two people were murdered in the space of just 30 minutes. Raul Nicolaie, 26, and a woman in her 30s were both stabbed to death Sunday.
This raises London’s death toll to 59 since the start of the year. England’s capital has been plagued with an astonishingly high level of knife crime as of late, exceeding the number of homicides that have taken place in New York City this year. Former Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent Leroy Logan told the BBC that such a statistic is proof that “London’s violent traits have become a virus.”
Pastor Lorraine Jones told Premier U.K. that it feels “terrible” to hear about all the killings in her city.
“My relationship with God keeps me strong, but hearing of another stabbing or shooting, or even an attack, it brings back memories of when Dwayne was stabbed,” she said.
Her son, Dwayne Simpson, was stabbed in the heart in what was called a “senseless killing” back in February 2014.
“They had opened his chest right there in the street to try to stem the bleeding. Dwayne had been stabbed in the chest, and the knife had gone right through to the other side,” Lorraine wrote in a 2016 article for the BBC.
Jones told Premier of the excruciating pain of watching her son suffer and eventually pass away.
“He was on the life support machine for two days, so I have the experience of praying and believing he will come through and them him finally dying,” she explained.
In the wake of the latest slayings, Jones has urged churches to take action in order to try and prevent these violent crimes, and encouraged Christians to be there for families impacted by such tragedies.
“Unfortunately we do have a tendency to keep in our comfort zone within the four walls of the church,” she said. “Now the Church needs to get out on the streets as much as they can. “Just witness to them and be the arms of Christ. Be the voice of Christ. Show love, comfort and hope. It’s so vitally important.”
Pastor Jones previously talked to Premier U.K. about the astonishing move of God that took place in the weeks and months following her son’s death. She explained how a number of gatherings held outside the family home quickly turned into revival meetings.
“A revival started,” she said. “There was mourning and shock, but they were also asking: “What do we do now?” It has put us in a position as the church to help them live in the right way: in love, unity, strength, hope, power and prosperity.”
Lorraine continued:
“As a minister, when you see so many people come with so much pain, you are moved by compassion and you want to console them. We have been singing praises, hugging and ministering the word of God. I’m grieving, so I’ve had to call for help.”
“Gun and knife crime is not going to grow or overtake our communities,” Jones declared.
(H/T: Premier U.K.)