Jesus’s call to peace is stronger than voices of fear and division
My conversion happened one chilly Chicago spring morning with my Army ROTC platoon, belting out call-and-response cadences to keep pace as we ran. A quiet voice inside was growing louder, bolder: how could I sing about death and destruction with cadets in the morning, only to learn about Jesus’s loving self-sacrifice at a Bible class in the afternoon?
This wasn’t my first conversion. I “prayed the prayer” multiple times as a little kid, terrified of hell. I recommitted myself to faith in high school, realizing that I wanted to start “taking this seriously.”
But this time was different. This was a calling to an enfleshed faith that trusted fully in the path Jesus taught. This conversion meant rejecting violence and embracing a commitment to the way of peace and agape love.
So I turned in my boots and uniform, mourning the friends and future career I was giving up, but resolved that for me following Jesus with integrity meant leaving ROTC and following the call into the unknown.
This path has not always been clear nor easy. Living in marginalized urban communities, it was too often Christians themselves who questioned why I lived in those neighborhoods. Speaking about the way oppressed people were being harmed, it was too often Christians who told me those people deserved it. When finding common ground and learning from friends with different cultures and beliefs, it was too often Christians who said I needed to convert them. Every time I chose to follow that quiet voice of peace deeper into friendship with the “other,” voices from the church tried to pull me back into narratives of building walls and culture wars. The juxtaposition between the two left me feeling heartbroken and rejected by my faith community.
Finding Peace Catalyst was like reaching calm, friendly waters after years of swimming against the current. Here was a community of peacemakers who had known that same heartbreak and rejection, yet were still passionately following Jesus on the path of mercy, justice, and humility.
Peace Catalyst is full of people choosing peace and reconciliation instead of drawing battle lines, justice instead of self-interest, and empathy and compassion over apathy or judgment. I suspect that many of you—Peace Catalyst’s friends, followers, partners, and donors—have made similar choices. Jesus’s call to peace is stronger than the voices of fear and division, though this commitment to love our enemies has made some think we are the enemy.
The church and our communities need peace now more than ever, and too often we see the church complicit in the injustice and violence around us, through their words or in their silence. But another story is possible—one in which the church loves and learns from the hurting, the excluded, the “other.” In this story, the church realizes Christ is already on the margins and across divisions. Joining Him there, we discover together what flourishing for all might look like. When the rest of the church catches this spark, the world will be better for it.
The church is called to be more than it is. We Christians, the church, are called to love others fiercely, the way Jesus did. How will you join us in this movement for peace?
Share the vision.
Host an Introduction to Christian Peacebuilding small group as a place for shared learning or to brush up on your theology of peace.
Be a peacebuilder in your own community.
Sign up for workshops on community peacebuilding and conflict transformation skills, and check out our Getting Started With Community Peacebuilding resource.
Join our community of peace.
Learn and grow with peacebuilders around the world with the Christian Peacebuilding Network or join our PCI team as a volunteer peace ambassador or paid staff.
Invest your resources of time, energy, networks, or wealth.
Share stories of hope, perspectives from the “other,” and wisdom from those on the margins. Promote stories and opportunities from Peace Catalyst, and invite others to join you for an event or workshop. Use the wealth you steward to further God’s peace as a regular donor to our Waging Peace Fund or to a PCI team member you already know.