Increase your chance of saving lives, and help prevent an active shooter event on your church campus. Use the PDF and video resources collected by the Desert Southwest Conference Anti-Gun Violence Task Force and Church Mutual. Contact Gerry Hill (g.hills1962@gmail.com)or Billie Fidlin (bfidlin@dscumc.org) to learn about the Anti-Gun Violence Task Force or Anti-Gun Violence Facebook Group.
How To Stop The Madness
(42:41 Minutes)
Protecting Congregation Against Active Shooter (54:49)
Handling An Intruder
(34:01 Minutes)
Safety During Services
(4-Minute Guide)
Communicating During A Crisis (40:46 Minutes)
Crime Proof Your Worship Center (15-Minute Review)

Bishops agree ways to tackle gun violence; church disaffiliations
The Council of Bishops (COB) of The United Methodist Church ended its summer 2022 meeting last Friday (Aug.26) with a call to act against gun violence and to create a uniform approach to the way in which bishops would deal with the process of disaffiliation in their areas.

Capitol Vigil & Call to Action
On May 25th, just one day after the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX, our Conference in partnership with March for Our Lives organizer Jacob Martinez, held a...
Statement From the Gun Violence Awareness Task Force
By Geraldine Hills, Chair of the Desert Southwest Conference Board of Church. & Society, Gun Violence Awareness Task Force Once again, the country is horrified and traumatized by the mass murder of school children. This time it was Uvalde, Texas. This slaughter is...

Bishop’s E-Lumination 5-26-2021
A Plea for Action and Prayer to End Gun Violence (Photo by Eric Gerhardy on UnSplash) The nation is afire! Not the flames of wildfires burning in many places across the US, but rather, the fire of violence and shootings and killings, sometimes of innocent persons, and...
The Gun Violence Awareness Task Force Monumentum Project
Firearm injuries are the third leading cause of death of youth in the U.S. Recent events such as mass shootings in schools with high victim counts have received extensive media coverage; however, very little attention is paid to single victim incidents. Relatedly,...

As gun violence increases, our nation’s transformation begins with you
Find out more about how you and your community can get involved in this or other justice and outreach ministries of the Desert Southwest Conference. Visit https://dscumc.org/justice-outreach/
Arming Educators
By Gerry Hills, Chair, DSC UMC Gun Violence Awareness Task Force Phoenix, AZ - The Gun Violence Awareness Task Force of the Desert Southwest Conference of The United Methodist Church, has issued a response to the New York Times report that Education Secretary Betsy...

UMC Bishops call for prayers in aftermath of 232nd mass shooting in US in 2018
WASHINGTON, D.C. _ The Council of Bishops President Bishop Ken Carter, who is also the resident bishop of the Florida Area, has issued the following statement in the aftermath of the mass shooting today in Jacksonville, Florida, USA: “We are saddened again to learn of...
Silent March Photos and Report
By Billie K. Fidlin, Director of Outreach Ministries for the Desert Southwest Conference In the early morning hours of June 2, the Conference Gun Violence Task Force Chairperson, Gerry Hills, and I had a task before us. Pairs of survivor and victim’s shoes...

June 2 is National Gun Violence Awareness Day – What will you do?
Join the Desert Southwest Conference and its community partners in a silent march to commemorate National Gun Violence Awareness Day on Saturday, June 2, 2018, at 8:00 AM at the Arizona State Capitol. The silent march will display shoes collected from gun violence...