Conversations about peacemaking can tend to communicate the notion that all force is always wrong. However, peacemaker Eric Patterson believes that we can work for peace while also supporting the use of force by legitimate authorities under the right circumstances.

For the past five years I have been working with Muslim refugees in the Phoenix area and trying to get the Church to faithfully love the neighbors that God has brought to our city. On this journey God has been faithful to teach me, through many failures, how to effectively move people toward loving the neighbors they would never otherwise spend time with. Here are some lessons I've learned.

I arrived at the Mosque that afternoon with an outline for the day’s event, a Muslim friend to co-facilitate with me, and a trust in God to do good things. It was going to be a discussion on caring for sisters of other faiths. But I left the Mosque with a heavy conscience, shaky hands, and no small amount of confusion. So much for my first “real” peacebuilding events. They did not go as planned. They went worse.

Last month I had the great privilege of traveling to to the Indonesian city of Padang, West Sumatra for two weeks of speaking, learning, and relationship-building. In my first week in Padang I only encountered one other foreigner, a German man that I met in passing, and was not, to my knowledge, in the presence of a single other Christian.

“We must curb and limit Islamic migration and stop the refugee dumps.” Three weeks ago a former Muslim who is now a pastor spoke these words to Idaho lawmakers and warned of a Muslim conspiracy to establish Sharia law. 

One of the best ways to acquire wisdom is through reading. So I have put together the top ten books on peacemaking for 2015. It was painful whittling the list down to only ten books, but hopefully this will give you some guidance as you seek to acquire wisdom.

Our work is constantly increasing, and we need the resources to keep up with the opportunities coming our way. Do you want to be part of the peacemaking movement?

This week, more than 50 Christian leaders came together to voice support for the recent move toward a diplomatic agreement with Iran concerning Iran’s nuclear program. Sojourners published the statement as a full-page ad in Roll Call, a Washington, D.C. political newspaper widely read by members of Congress and their staff.

In our world filled with negative images and stories from around the world, it's as important as ever (or maybe even more important than ever) to tell the positive stories. Which is why we're so excited about this upcoming project by Peace Catalyst's own Andy Larsen.