Historic peace church conference calls for letting go of fear to create true peace

 

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – When 350 participants gathered Sept. 8-11 for a conference of the historic peace churches – Church of the Brethren, Mennonite Church USA and The Society of Friends – they focused on what it means to be courageous in the current political environment: letting go of fear and bringing light to the darkness.

 

              The conference, “Seeking Peace: The Courage to be Nonviolent,” included speakers, workshops and worship, and met at the Indianapolis Marriott East conference center. It was an ecumenical gathering, with participants primarily from the three historic peace churches.

 

              “The purpose of this gathering was the bring the peace and justice leadership and peace activists in the historic peace churches together to talk about the relevancy of peace and peace theology to these churches and how to continue to move forward,” said Dean Johnson, director of the Plowshares Peace Studies Program at Goshen College and one of the conference organizers.

 

              “Often peace activists are working alone in pockets around the country and this was an opportunity to bring together people with similar convictions and callings to reenergize and spiritually renew them and to talk about what being a collective church looks like,” Johnson added.

 

              Peggy Gish, a member of Christian Peacemaker Teams since the early 1990s and recently returned from a delegation to Baghdad, spoke during a plenary session about putting aside her own fears when she felt called to go to Iraq. “Almost everyone in Iraq has been affected by a death, wounded family member or disappeared relative,” said Gish. “Fear has permeated Iraq and our lives as well. Fear is the driving force of our foreign policy.”

 

              Traveling to Iraq was not easy for Gish as she thought about her loved ones and home in Athens, Ohio. But she continually asked herself the question: “What risk is it to my spirit if I hold back from my calling?”

 

              Said Gish: “Love is what starts us on the journey and love is what keeps us going. The good news of the gospel is that we don’t need to be bound by fear. Using the power of love, we dare to defy the stranglehold of fear.”

 

              During a plenary lecture, Lisa Schirch, an associate professor of peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, posed a number of hard questions to the audience of peace activists, including “What is it we want to happen?” Schirch said her understanding of activism has been challenged in the past year by a trip to Iraq and an opportunity she had to speak at West Point Military Academy.

 

              “What we need to be proactively doing is changing the structures around us,” said Schirch. “Pacifism might be redefined as steps to bring about change.” She suggested considering a saying of St. Francis of Assisi: “Preach the Gospel always. When necessary use words.”

 

              Schirch then outlined four suggestions to aid those who work for justice through advocacy. First, frame the message so that all can understand using positive language. Second, share the facts. Third, messages need to consider a person’s neighbor and their needs, using metaphors if necessary. Fourth, engage in active peacebuilding by advocating for justice, reducing direct violence, transforming relationship dynamics and building capacity.

 

              Damu Smith, co-founder and director of Black Voices for Peace, said during his plenary lecture, “We must be brave and speak the truth.” His speech touched a wide breadth of socio-economic critiques of current establishments and systems in operation. Tying in his own battle with cancer Smith used associated metaphors to make his points. “Oh people of God, we have so much work to do in our land to cure the cancer of systemic injustice,” said Smith. “We have to cleanse ourselves. Their must be justice in our interpersonal relationships.”

 

              Smith also called for faith-based peace activism to better include minorities. “This is my dream: When we have an assembly like this I don’t want to see all white [people]. I want it be a multi-racial event,” he said. “We gonna listen to each other’s music. We gonna hug each other and cry. We gonna build a multi-racial, multi-cultural movement to root out the source of injustice.”

 

              Smith concluded, “We must light the candle in the darkness. We must be the salt of the earth.” 

 

              In the final worship session on Sunday morning, Gene Stoltzfus, former director of Christian Peacemaker Teams, using humor and drama, talked about darkness and light, good winning over evil. “We have to find ways to bless each other,” said Stoltzfus. “Light is not the opposite of darkness, light is the absence of darkness. We are the children of the enlightenment and we expect some truth. When you bring the darkness to the light it fails. Be bold and carry the light. If you are a youth, experiment with the light. Let’s live like we have the confidence of this: darkness can’t put the light out.”

 

              Contributing organizations towards the Seeking Peace conference include Every Church a Peace Church, On Earth Peace Assembly, Quaker House-Fayetteville/Ft. Bragg, N.C., Mennonite Central Committee Great Lakes, Mennonite Church USA Peace Advocate and Peace and Justice Support Network, Christian Peacemaker Teams and Plowshares Peace Studies Collaborative.

 

              The Plowshares Peace Studies Project is a collaboration of Goshen, Manchester and Earlham Colleges that strives to connect communities and educational institutions with imaginative ways to address the problems of violence and related challenges that confront America and the world today.

 

– photos and article by Joel Fath

 

Editors: For more information about this release, to arrange an interview or request a photo, contact Goshen College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

 

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a four-year residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu.

 

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(All photos by Joel Fath)