Presbytery Peacemaker

Peacemaking In Action

How are congregations integrating Peacemaking into their mission?

Webster, NY

The Peacemaking Offering at Webster Presbyterian Church had been diminishing over the years.

In an effort to increase it in 2005, the Peacemaking Committee ordered several hundred free copies of the brochure, An Introduction to the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program (Item #7027003003) from the Presbyterian Distribution Service in Louisville (1-800-524-2612).

These were distributed and the offering envelopes were put in the chair racks in the sanctuary and in the chapel in mid-August. The Session also agreed to allow these brochures to be inserted in the September mailing of The Pathway, the monthly church newsletter, thereby reaching every church member before the Peacemaking Offering was to be taken on October 1st.

A regular one-page article in The Pathway entitled “Peacemaking: Conversations Leading to Action”, always contains a section entitled, “Where Your Peacemaking Offering Goes.”

These efforts were rewarded: the 2004 offering was $280; in 2005 it was more than doubled at $711.

Hickey, NC

Northminster Presbyterian Church is engaged in two-part Conflict Transformation Program.

Part I involves a discussion series using the video, A Force More Powerful. This acclaimed PBS film series documents examples of the use of non-violent conflict to achieve social change.

Part II features a retreat and discussion facilitated by scholars from the Eastern Mennonite University Conflict Transformation Program and others.

Oakland, CA

Montclair Presbyterian Church co-hosted a harvest dinner for over 180 people with the Kehilla Community Synagogue, the Islamic Cultural Center, and the members and friends of Montclair.

Members of the three congregations planned together, cooked together, set up and decorated together, and cleaned up together. They shared prayer, delicious food, story, and song.

The Kehilla community prepared the first course of salad and challah bread. Next came Turkish rice pilaf with eggplant and pistachios, served by the Montclair community. The final act was a spectacular assortment of desserts, baklava and sholezard, served by the Islamic Cultural Center.

A member from each congregation shared a version of the creation story for the children in our audience.

Burlington, VT

Christ Church Presbyterian has been very concerned about the ongoing violence in the Middle East. A friend of one of the CCP’s members formed an organization called Ir Amim (which translates into “City of Peoples” or “City of Nations”) in Jerusalem to advocate for a Jerusalem that would be the center of a two-state solution.

Today their mission focuses on three areas.

To educate church members and others about the complexity of the issues.
To identify practical things that can be done in this country to encourage our government to play its crucial role in helping create a just peace.
To support Ir Amim’s efforts to advocate for the rights of Palestinians around Jerusalem, block the development of new settlements that would be harmful to a future two-state solution, and educate the Israelis about their government's actions around Jerusalem.

Newark, NJ

Through prayer, study, and discussion, the Committee on Church and Culture of the Presbytery of Newark recognized that people who are racially or culturally different from one another often find it difficult to relate comfortably with one another. While this is true, they also recognized the call of Christ to love one another.

As one way to live out this call, the committee designed a program called Project Embrace. At the heart of Project Embrace lies a concept that the committee calls “partnering.” In partnering, volunteer participants (individuals, couples, or families) are matched with other individuals, couples, or families from a different race or culture. Partners are also matched across congregational lines.

Anderson, SC

First Presbyterian Church of Anderson, SC held its annual Day using the curriculum “Building a Culture of Peace Begins With Children.”

The 29 children and five counselors examined their roles as peacemakers in their own neighborhoods as well as in the world through song, small groups, art, and recreation. They made a “peace carpet”, which will hang permanently in their stairwell, with symbols of peace.