|PIC1|Christian policeman Michael Smith is looking for churches to be the driving force behind a brand new initiative to rid London of gun and knife crime.

Word 4 Weapons is offering young people the opportunity to hand in their weapons at a local church and receive in exchange an ‘All I Need’ bag containing among other things a booklet of real stories of people who have turned their lives around, a copy of the Bible, and information on how to leave behind a life of violence.

“I am concerned about the level of gun and knife crime in London. Almost every week we hear of someone being shot or stabbed,” says Michael. “I am asking young people to exchange their weapons for one of His weapons – the Word, which the Bible says is a sword.”

A pilot scheme will be launched in Islington in mid-March with a view to eventually rolling out the initiative across all London boroughs by 2011 and the rest of the UK by 2013.

The scheme is being run in partnership with Street Pastors and has the backing of the police and local authorities. It is the churches, however, that Michael wants to see lead the way in ridding the capital of its guns and knives.

“It’s not acceptable for us as the church to say that the situation is bad but not do anything about it. As the church, or indeed any faith group, we should have something positive to give our community,” he says. “We can’t say it is up to the government or the council but we should be looking at what our role as the church is. We should be the prophetic voice in our communities.”

Churches can take part in Word 4 Weapons either as ‘Participating Churches’ – those that host knife bins on their premises for young people to hand their weapons over to – or ‘Associate Churches’ – those willing to refer individuals with weapons to the closest Associate Church or have a Street Pastor come to collect it.

“The church need not be afraid of those who want to come and hand in their weapons,” says Michael. “We need to evangelise, we need to minister and we need to be out in the community, not setting ourselves apart, and this is one way the church can do that.”

Word 4 Weapons is asking Christians to pray:
• For God’s strength as it seeks to expand the initiative across the London boroughs and beyond
• For donations towards producing the ‘All I Need’ bags and spreading the word about the initiative
• That many young people will give up their guns and knives through the project

On the web: www.word4weapons.co.uk/index.html