Like the Good Shepherd in the parable of the lost sheep, Willie Perry rejoices when a sinner is rescued, comes home and delights the heart of heaven.

But her experience at the Crisis Center in Gary tells her not all preachers see troubled youths with compassionate eyes that look for ways to embrace them in their parishes.

"I heard from a former gang member, and he said he always felt like he wasn't good enough to go to church," said Perry, who has devoted more than 20 years to helping youths in crisis.

"He felt excluded. It wasn't that he didn't want to abide by civil laws and spiritual rules and regulations. Nobody reached out. It was more about ‘hell and damnation.' He didn't feel worthy."

Bill Hill, 79, of the Salvation Army's Adult Rehabilitation Center in Gary, is not ordained but has been working in local communities and ministering for more than three decades.

He agrees churches play a major role in combating gang violence. Outreach is limited and there is no organized movement underfoot by any religious denomination, he added.

"Churches have fallen down on the job. There's too much greed. It's more about money and big productions. It's more entertainment than teaching moral principles made by God."

A spate of suspected gang shootings has local leaders bracing for the possibility of a violent summer. The area is a fertile nursery for gangbangers moving in from former housing projects on Chicago's South Side.

Deacon Mark Plaiss of the Gary Diocese said while individuals work with gang members, the Catholic Church's diocese has no statement or office that specifically addresses gang violence.

Perry further criticizes youth groups that become cliques and sermons that instill fear. "Oftentimes pastors preach to their older congregation -- that can't relate to the young," she said.

"Then they have a youth group that's basically put in a cocoon. They socialize amongst themselves and aren't taught to reach out. The only ones saved are the ones already coming to church.

"The youths who are floundering in the community are being talked down about.

"What about the kid that's the same age that lives two doors down from you that's not involved in church?"

Hill agrees. "Instead of teaching love dignity and respect, many teach a punishing God and not a loving God," he said.

Vicar Maxwell Anokwuti of the Rebuilding the Breach Ministry in Crown Point prefers outreach over Sunday sermons. "We miss the message of Jesus Christ if we come to the pulpit preaching about gangs," he said.

"We preach about loving our neighbor because if you agree, you don't raise a hand to them. The message is not of condemnation but redemption. We reach people with the love of God.

"They can be joyful God will wash away the sins of gang violence. But our message has to be given in a way that the Holy Spirit will move in them."

Plaiss ministers to inmates on death row at the Indiana State Prison and has come to understand their complex world and learned to love them despite their situation.

"I've talked to guys who have done horrendous things," he added. "They've done monstrous things, but they're not monsters. These men are human beings. They're people -- God's children -- and should be treated as such."

Pastor Jason Jones of the First Christian Church of Highland agrees churches aren't doing enough. "That's the challenge as Christians -- to see those in gangs as still redeemable and precious in God's eyes."

Hill said he dignifies those who have lost their way just by listening to them.

"If they don't get love, dignity and respect, they get attached to other things like drugs and gangs which become their God," he said.

Plaiss said starting with prayer helps. "Prayer is priming the pump," he said.

"There's work to be done and you can't do it unless there's prayer involved. It gets the work going."

Hill agrees through a spiritual connection and community involvement gang violence can be curbed.

"Prayer can make them reach outside themselves and give them a purpose," he said. "They learn ‘I believe there's a God, I believe I can pray, and I believe I can be a better person.'

"A person has to have love. If you don't, you search in all the wrong places and it enslaves people. When you discover a desire for God, it sets us free."