Introducing the Christian Peacebuilding Network social learning group

We are excited to announce the launch of a new project to help Christian peacebuilders across the world explore together how we might faithfully and effectively build bridges of understanding, respect, and friendship with neighbors from other social, ideological, and religious groups. The Christian Peacebuilding Network (CPN) is a private learning and networking platform currently housed on Facebook. 

We founded the CPN to be a collaborative network for everyone - people newly interested in peacebuilding, Christians curious about new faith praxis, professional peacebuilders, and partner organizations - to connect and make peace theology and peacebuilding skills mainstream in Christian communities and churches. 

We’re excited to be partnering right now with Telos Group, The Global Immersion Project, Mission Reconcile, and the Peace and Reconciliation Network (a commission of the World Evangelical Alliance), and we look forward to even more peacebuilding organizations and networks getting involved to resource and connect Christians who are interested in learning about peace theology and peacebuilding skills and applying them in their lives and communities. 

Each and every group member can contribute to the Christian Peacebuilding Network. Here are some ways to get started:

Share your own experiences, questions, learnings, and collaborative peacebuilding opportunities in the “Discussion” tab. 

There is a large and growing set of resources in the “discussion” about peacebuilding responses to current events, training events or trips to further your own learning, and collaborative opportunities to get involved. The CPN is not a static platform; it is a place for ongoing conversations, actively incorporating world events, new peacebuilding research, and resources curated by CPN partners. 

Learn more about peace theology and peacebuilding skills by going through the learning “Guides”. 

Guides are built-in self-paced learning modules to help members work through the theology of peacemaking, understand the roots of conflict, learn peacebuilding skills, and more. Group members can learn from these peacebuilding resources independently or in small group cohorts. Peace Catalyst is happy to provide facilitators to help your small group process the learning material as cohorts, so please reach out to a CPN group admin via the group or to us at Peace Catalyst via email if your group needs a facilitator. CPN will also announce when new cohorts begin.

Many Christian peacebuilders feel isolated in their own work spaces or local communities. The CPN platform is intended to foster collaboration and network building for those interested in pursuing peace. It is designed to be a safe space for Christian peacebuilders to connect and share resources. The CPN strives to highlight best practices from the fields of theology, conflict transformation, and social sciences to equip and mobilize Christian peacebuilders. CPN partner organizations believe that peace theology and peacebuilding practices help the Church immerse itself in our communities for healing and restoration. Our vision is to "seek the welfare of the community" (Jeremiah 29:7) and live out a gospel that is truly "good news" for the flourishing of all our neighbors. In short, we believe peacebuilding is the primary vocation of the Church if we’re to follow Jesus and participate in God’s mission to establish the holistic, just peace that characterizes God’s reign. 

Join the Christian Peacebuilding Network, invite some friends, check out the learning guides, and get involved in the discussion today. We’re excited for you to join us on this journey of following Jesus and waging peace!