Christians in London are putting their faith in the power of prayer to bring an end to the wave of shootings and stabbings among young people in the capital.
"You don't just go around the walls of Jericho once and expect them to come down. You have to go round several times," says Pastor Jonathan Oloyede, associate pastor of north London Pentecostal church, Glory House, and one of the instigators of a major prayer relay that is uniting Christians of all traditions against the gun and knife crime gripping the capital.
Sprinters in a sprint relay use a metal baton. For Christians in this prayer relay, however, the baton is the Bible, and not any Bible but one that was used by fellow organiser Nims Obunge just hours before the relay's launch on 1 August to comfort the mother of a young man who had died in a brutal stabbing this year.
Since then, that Bible has been passed on to each of London's 33 boroughs where Christians are praying unceasingly for God to protect the city's young people and end the shootings and stabbings that have left 24 young people dead so far this year.
"Gun and knife crime is affecting everyone," says Jonathan, "and the related socio-economic factors are present in Christians and non-Christians. Some of the young people who are doing the attacking are connected to the church."
Absent fathers and peer pressure are just two of the major influencing factors, says Jonathan. Nims, a Haringey pastor who heads up the London Peace Alliance, adds a couple of other factors into the mix: a breakdown in education and the celebration of young people.
"These problems are very real on the streets. There is an atmosphere of fear among young people where they feel they have to defend themselves," says Jonathan.
Even since the prayer initiative began, there have been more deaths. On 6 August, 18-year-old Ryan Bravo was shot dead in a south-east London convenience store. Shaquille Smith, 14, died on 30 August after being stabbed in the stomach in Hackney. Friends of both victims insist they were innocent bystanders tragically caught in the crossfire.
"We began to pray but the statistics did not go down," notes Jonathan. "In fact the stats in August were worse. The spiritual reality is that when the force of evil is confronted things get worse before they get better."
Yet Christians in the capital refuse to give in.
"We are looking to crank up our efforts," says Nims. "We are not going to rest or stop until we see the injuries and stabbings and deaths go down and we hear from the police that there has been a change.
