As citizens of God’s coming kingdom and servants of our redeemer, Jesus Christ, the staff and board of World Renew mourn the killing of Patrick Lyoya, an African immigrant of Congolese origin, by a Grand Rapids police officer on April 4, 2022.

We are compelled by our Lord’s call to be courageous prophets who speak truth to power in addressing unjust systems. We lament the suffering of loss in the Lyoya family and share, in solidarity, the pain of the whole community.

We recognize that we must push back against racism, violence, and oppression in our work and personal lives as part of the broken human systems that govern our nation and world.

This is a time of deep sorrow and a time to search our souls for ways to live justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God and with our neighbors.

We are one people, unified by Christ and bearing his image, woven together in a beautiful diversity that enriches us all. We claim the promises of God’s redemption and reconciliation of all people and things to Christ, striving for justice and equity, and opposing evil through the power of the Spirit as beloved community.

Longing For All Things to be Made New,

Carol Bremer Bennett
U.S. Director