The air vibrated with energy and chatter as the group of conference-goers gathering inside the DeVos Center grew. The color of the day was bright orange, reflected in the garb of the hundreds of people that spilled out the doors and walked together to Rosa Parks Circle, carrying signs and pinwheels and singing acapella about peace.

From the vantage point of the park, the sea of orange stretching down the city sidewalks, filling them to the curbs, was a sight to behold. From the middle of the crowd, marchers were surrounded by orange pinwheels spinning in the breeze, the same breeze that carried the strains of music coming from the park all the way down the street. A guitar and a voice lifted in song welcomed the marchers to the park, where a handful of presenters waited on the concrete stage, and a news crew filmed nearby.

July 2024 marked the 237th recorded Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren and the 2nd year the Gun Violence Prevention Action Team (GVP AT) had an active presence at Annual Conference.

Throughout the week, the GVP exhibit hall booth and equipping session provided resources for congregations and individuals wondering what they can do, while conversations at the coffee house stage invited questions and storytelling. Finally, the week culminated in a GVP Vigil and Public Witness at Rosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids.

A community ice rink by winter and a general public venue space the rest of the year, on Saturday, July 6, 2024, Rosa Parks Circle hosted a group of around two hundred Church of the Brethren Annual Conference-goers. They sought to add their voices to those calling for an end to the epidemic of gun violence in the United States and calling the Church of the Brethren to action.

Speakers, which included local organizers in Grand Rapids and Church of the Brethren folks from across the country, encouraged vigil attendees to consider all the faces of gun violence and to join together to seek peaceful solutions to the challenges their particular communities face.

Mirrored in the faces of those at the vigil was the unique intergenerational nature of Annual Conference: youth carried the banner down the street, children drew with chalk on the pavement to express their own sentiments on gun violence, and elders with walkers rested in chairs. The wide span of ages within the crowd was a poignant visual reminder of how gun violence is an issue that touches us all.

The vigil ended with a time of prayer and quiet reflection as speakers read just a few of the names of those killed by gun violence to-date in 2024. The ringing of bells signaled the end of each set of names, a mere fraction of the heart-breaking whole.

Annual Conference 2024 is over, but the work continues. The Church of the Brethren Gun Violence Prevention Action Team invites those who feel a call toward action on this issue to connect with us and explore what their part could be.

We hope to see you next year at Annual Conference 2025 in Greensboro!