The August 31 session, from 7PM to 8PM at Fountain Arts at the Belmont, 48 Schuyler Street, is part of ongoing Friday night gatherings around the county, hosted by Mission Genesee Valley coalition of churches, other Christian organizations and individuals, to pray for community transformation and revival.
The expanded Sunday night events will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. September 9 at Wellsville Bible Church, 2908 Andover Road (State Route 417) and September 23 at Yorks Corners Mennonite Church, 3350 County Road 29, Wellsville, part of an ongoing three-component Journey to Transformation prayer focus.
Allegany County churches come together at the twice-a-month sessions for renewing of individual minds and hearts to combat issues of addiction, abuse, racism, suicide, poverty, family dysfunction and more that pastors say are growing throughout this area, the United States and world. Prayer focuses have included schools and colleges, the local economy, veterans, substance abuse, children and families and more.
National Recovery Month is an annual observance to educate Americans that substance use treatment and mental health services can enable those with mental and/or substance use disorders to live a healthy and rewarding life. National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month is designed to share resources and stories that shed light on this highly taboo and stigmatized topic.
Churches reported statistics in August showing the county's overall completed suicide rate at 15th from the top in New York State in 2015, although the rate has declined from being the highest several years ago, at which time churches became aware of and started praying about the situation.
Of 10th grade females, according to a 2017 county schools youth study, 14.9 percent reported having made a plan within the past year for how to attempt suicide, with 14.7 percent of 12th graders and 12.9 percent of eighth graders reporting the same. Males report a lesser percentage at each grade level.
Students also said they have "felt depressed or sad most days" in the past year, "even if (they) felt OK sometimes," with 55.4 percent of 12th grade females either agreeing or strongly agreeing with the statement, along with 30.3 percent of males. The number for females is fairly consistent from eighth grade on.
Over a quarter of all 12th grade females report having hurt themselves by personal cutting or burning when they are upset about something, with males at 11.3 percent. This number for all females, eighth grade and above, is in excess of 21 percent.
In addition, 16.9 percent of 12th grade students had engaged in binge drinking in the past month, with 29.2 percent having used alcohol during that same period.
The survey also found over half of 12th graders using e-cigarettes or other tobacco vaporizers during the past 30 days, along with 32.6 percent of 10th graders, and 12.3 percent of eighth graders. Over a third of students had used marijuana at some point, including 16.3 percent within the past month of the survey, with 3.4 percent of senior students having used other drugs, including 2.8 percent LSD or psychedelics and the same percentage for heroin and prescription pain killers during the same 30-day period.
The U.S. Surgeon General has reported that one in five adults, including children, experience a diagnosable mental illness in any one year, but federal reports also indicate some 60 percent of adults and two-thirds of children go without treatment.
In addition to Sunday night prayer gatherings, the Journey to Transformation prayer focus also includes the Friday night rotating community prayer, with a growing multi-church emphasis on the renewal of minds and hearts of individuals and families for county and communities transformation through prayer for the host and other churches and Christian organizations, individuals, the community, county and more.
Next month's Friday night gatherings include September 7 at the Salvation Army, 25 East Pearl Street, Wellsville; September 14 at Andover Alliance Church, 5 Rochambeau Avenue; and September 21 at Riverside Assembly of God Church, 3218 Riverside Drive (State Route 19), Wellsville.
A third set of weekly community prayer gatherings for individual and general concerns, including family members and friends, are held from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. each weekday at Knights Creek Church, 2987 Knights Creek Road (County Road 9), Scio; 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. Wednesdays at Belfast Free Methodist Church, 11 Chestnut Street; and 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Saturdays at the Power House Youth Center, 23 West Main Street, Fillmore.
Members of the community with prayer needs are welcome to attend any of these prayer events.
Knights Creek Church, along with Yorks Corners Mennonite Church, also will host an afternoon and evening orientation/workshop for pastors, church leaders and interested individuals on Saturday, September 22, to increase knowledge about Celebrate Recovery ministries at the two churches and Celebrate Recovery Inside at Allegany County Jail. The current host churches are seeking to expand throughout Allegany County the Christian 12-Step support groups that address all types of personal hurts, hangups, habits and struggles.
Further information about these activities and the Journey to Transformation initiative is available at www.facebook.com/
Information on National Recovery Month is available at www.recoverymonth.gov and on National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month at www.nami.org/Get-Involved/
