Help see young people swap knives for Jesus

Teenagers are twice as likely to be fatally stabbed than they were ten years ago. Fatalities from knife-crime are constantly in our headlines with the victims and perpetrators getting younger and younger.

Chatting with Karen, in Greenwich:

Growing up in Abbey Wood, south London, I have seen first-hand the lure of gangs and the impact of knife crime. Families I have walked with have experienced the searing pain of losing someone they love in a knife attack.

The reality is, where I work and live, knives are commonplace, carried by children as young as eight years old. Many feel the need to be armed, to defend themselves, and in some cases, simply to feel cool.

A different way

In my role with Church Army, my team and I go into schools and run youth clubs for children caught up in the reality of gangs. We distribute bleed control kits and work with people in the community, from pub landlords to shop owners, on how to give emergency first aid if witnessing a knife attack.

We share the power of Christ and try to demonstrate a better way to live. In some cases, we are the only consistent adults in these young people’s lives, filling a gap which other agencies just don’t have the resources to meet.

Faith brings hope

One young man said to me that he knows he won’t be dealing drugs and carrying a knife for the rest of his life because: “Jesus has a different path for me.”