Family and friends of those affected by gun violence in Chicago in the past year gathered at a church on the North Side Sunday for an annual vigil to remember victims and reflect.

— Andrew Ramos

CBS Chicago - October 15, 2023

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The pictures of the dozens of young faces are displayed outside of Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church.

They are all young lives lost to gun violence over the past year.

"Every year, you see new faces on the pictures, and they get younger and younger," said Elder Bernard Johnson.

Those children were honored on Sunday night at the church's Eighth Annual Vigil Against Violence.

— Cate Cauguiran

ABC 7 Chicago - October 15, 2023

— Jake Wittich

Block Club Chicago - October 11, 2023

— Josephine Stratman

The DePaulia - October 18, 2021

These are the pictures of more than 70 children who are the victims of gun violence in Chicago this past year. This powerful display is just one way the Church is trying to urge community members to step up and help stop the violence. 

— Meredith Barack

CBS Chicago - Oct 16, 2021

They gathered for the 4th annual Vigil Against Violence Sunday at Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church on the city's North Side.

The event was held in a place where the violence that plagues many other Chicago neighborhoods is less of a problem. But speakers at the vigil said it's everyone's issue.

Outside the church, vigil-goers have hung orange ribbons in honor of the thousands of kids killed in the U.S. They wrote names of some of them on the sidewalk, while others left notes hanging from a tree next to the church.

"The citizens are hurting," said Chicago rapper Rhymefest, one of the event's guest speakers. "And I see that for citizens to care about one another, is to heal the city."

— ABC7 Chicago - October 7, 2019

The Sunday evening vigil at Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church honored youth who have been killed in Chicago’s gun violence and encouraged more North Siders to actively work against violence in areas around the city.

— Jake Wittich

Chicago Sun-Times - October 6, 2019

— Nicole Blackwood

Chicago Tribune - August 15, 2019

Earlier, the Rev. Dr. Beth Brown of Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church, one of five religious leaders in the inaugural program, said that “peace” is not merely the absence of violence. The ancient Greeks referred to it as a “wholeness” of the community, rather than estrangement of any of its parts.

“What keeps us from the road to peace is scarcity thinking,” Brown said. “We are enough, and we have enough.”

— Streetwise - May 20, 2019

The welcoming congregation at Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church in Chicago has a large sanctuary — large enough, they agreed, to accommodate nonhumans.

— Chris J. Walker

Chicago Tribune - June 29, 2017

— Odette Yousef

WBEZ Chicago - April 14, 2017

CBC News - March 21, 2017

BuzzFeed News - February 25, 2017

— Manya Brachear Pashman

Chicago Tribune - Feb 21, 2017

— Windy City LIVE from ABC - October 7, 2016

— The Presbyterian Outlook - April 12, 2016