Team Report Index
H-6 World Church Peace and Justice Team Report
To the First Presidency and the World Conference:
The World Church Peace and Justice Team (WCPJT) is composed of
fourteen members representing a variety of age groups, nationalities, military
experience, skills, and perspectives on peace and justice issues.
This inter-Conference period saw several new members join the
team, expanding the number of individuals now versed in its work and providing
input into the ongoing scope of the peace and justice team. There also were
several long-standing WCPJT members who “retired” from service on the committee
after many outstanding years of contribution, and we wish to extend our
gratitude to them for their work.
The WCPJT discussed two specific legislative items from the 2007
World Conference. In addition, the team evaluated the Peace and Justice Studies
Association and considered issues of international representation and ongoing
dialogue about peace and justice issues throughout the church. A summary of the
work and deliberations of the committee is given here.
Darfur and International Conflict (G-16)
The Quorum of High Priests brought item G-16 “Save Darfur” to
the 2007 World Conference. The resolution was not specifically addressed on the
floor, but the First Presidency offered support for the spirit of the resolution
and agreed to pursue appropriate responses to the Darfur crisis by its own
authority.
The First Presidency subsequently placed the issue on the agenda
of the WCPJT, including consideration of organizational membership in the Save
Darfur Coalition.
The church quickly took several official actions regarding the crisis in Darfur.
On May 11, 2007, Community of Christ endorsed the Unity Statement of the Save
Darfur Coalition (www.savedarfur.org/pages/unity_statement)
and made a donation to the organization. Membership was granted June 18, 2007,
adding Community of Christ to the voices of more than 170 faith-based, advocacy,
and humanitarian organizations representing 130 million people united to help
the people of Darfur.
A summary of the World Church’s response to the conflict in
Darfur and some resources to help understand the issue can be found on the
Darfur issues page linked from the Peace & Justice page of the church Web site:
www.CofChrist.org/peace/issues/darfur.asp.
Rod Downing, recipient of Community of Christ’s 2007
International Human Rights Award, has continued to provide leadership and
education in support of Community of Christ involvement with this issue.
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Rod has written Darfur: A Brief History, Analysis and
Strategies, which provides an in-depth analysis of the complex factors
involved in Darfur with clear strategies for a hopeful future. It’s posted
on the above-mentioned Web page.
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A monthly update on the Darfur crisis, as well as
information and opportunities to make a difference on other human-rights and
justice issues, is provided through the monthly human-rights newsletter, In
the Forefront, which is distributed via e-mail. As editor, Rod continues to
make this significant contribution. If you would like to receive this
monthly newsletter to share with your congregation or inspire you
personally, e-mail Rod Downing (rdowning94@shaw.ca)
with “In the Forefront: Subscribe” in the subject line.
The 2009 Peace Award recipient was Dr. Halima Bashir, who is an
advocate for women and children in Darfur. Dr. Bashir gave the keynote at the
2009 Peace Colloquy, where she received the award and participated in dialogue
sessions with young adults and a panel for all attendees.
The focus of the colloquy was on equality for women and justice
for all. About 500 people from the USA, Canada, Australia, and other countries
attended. Rod Downing made available a petition on behalf of the Save Darfur
Coalition. More than 100 signatures were obtained to send to US politicians
regarding their policy on Darfur.
We know local initiatives to raise awareness of Darfur and other
conflicts have occurred in Community of Christ congregations and jurisdictions.
These are not always shared with the greater church community for various
reasons. We want to acknowledge these efforts and encourage members to continue
to hold this conflict and the people who are displaced because of it in your
prayers and to support, as possible, efforts to being relief and aid to the
displaced.
Continuing Exploration of Peace and War (G-17)
At the 2007 World Conference, item G-17 “Continuing Scriptural Exploration of
Peace and War” came to the floor from the Aaronic Mass Meeting. The resolution
was referred to the World Church Peace and Justice Team, guiding the committee
“to continue to explore all positions related to peace and war in light of the
scriptures.”
A sub-committee was formed to explore this issue and create a paper that will be
of use to the wider church community as a basis for exploring the scriptural
basis for various ethical positions relating to war and peace. The resulting
draft document, “Scriptural Exploration of the Ethics of Peace and War,” is
available on the WCPJT Web site to be used as the basis for local and
international discussion (www.CofChrist.org/peaceteam/).
Scriptural Exploration paper
The paper prepared for discussion at this World Conference provides one
possible scriptural frame of reference for thinking about peace and war, as well
as outlining various ethical positions acceptable in the church. Because we
specifically were charged with an exploration of scriptures, that is the focus
of the current document.
Further detailed statements outlining particular ethical
positions, starting with nonviolence and Christian realism, will be provided by
the WCPJT in the next inter-Conference period, should the First Presidency
approve that effort.
We begin from the premise that Community of Christ comes from a
nonviolent tradition but accepts those who represent all positions within our
faith community. As we attempt to discern God’s will in the midst of all of the
human tragedy and evil, the challenge has been to find a framework for examining
scripture about peace and war as an international faith community.
In this initial paper, we have drawn from the scriptural
perspective of Richard B. Hays in The Moral Vision of the New Testament: A
Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics (NY: HarperOne, 1996) to
provide a beginning scriptural framework for our ongoing dialogue.
Hays suggests three images that serve as signposts in our
reflections of ethical decision-making: community, cross, and new creation.
For Community of Christ then, any discussion of the ethical
aspects of war and peace can benefit from acknowledging these images, as well as
Community of Christ’s enduring values.
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Community. In We Share, Community of Christ professes
the “blessing of community” as an Enduring Principle, which is in keeping
with being a covenant people who “seek God’s will not by asking first, ‘What
should I do?’ but ‘What should we do?” As Hays declares, according to Paul,
everything we do as Christians impacts the whole body of Christ.
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Cross. Community of Christ holds up the pursuit of
peace as an Enduring Principle along with a basic belief that “The Holy
Spirit empowers us for the costly pursuit of peace and justice for all
people.” These principles embody the idea that a church engages in building
the kingdom of God by participating in Jesus’ suffering (Hays, 1996). The
cross is the paradigm for living.
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New creation. Community of Christ has basic beliefs
in peace, resurrection, and eternal life. We believe “God is God of life,
not of death...We believe the Holy Spirit will transform all creation to
share in the glory of God.” It is a sense of optimism amid the violence,
pain, and suffering in an imperfect world, amid the guilt, pain, and remorse
of all of our broken relationships with one another, our families, our
societies, our nations, and our world, that we have the promise of
transformation in becoming whole.
David Anderson and Andrew Bolton in their book, Military
Service, Pacifism, and Discipleship—A Diversity of Callings, provide an
excellent synopsis of five Christian positions on the ethics of violence: obey
the law of the land, nonviolent action, just war, holy war, and Christian
realism. A basic summary of each of these is provided in this paper for those
who do not yet have the book.
The translation of not just the words of this document, but the
meaning and intent of the words is difficult and at times not possible because
particular concepts do not simply translate across cultures.
So, the paper concludes with the hope of the WCPJT that as the
church continues to explore these various ethical positions relating to war and
peace, we pray that our community will remain open to the leadings of the Spirit
as we encourage an honest, humble, intellectually probing, and generous-spirited
dialogue on this important topic. Our prayer is that we reach a more-profound
and faithful understanding on our continuing exploration of the ethics of peace
and war.
Ongoing Education and Discussion
In addition to empowering the WCPJT to explore and report, item
G-17 continues to ask that following the committee’s work that appropriate
materials be developed for teaching youth and guiding priesthood with providing
counsel. As the exploration is not yet complete, this particular aspect of the
legislation was not specifically addressed.
However, the current team provides our full support for the
First Presidency to give consideration for the next team to develop these
materials for the church body and allow them to be available via the Peace
Team’s Web site. We uphold the education of all members—not just youth and
priesthood—as being vitally important as global and local conflict continues.
We encourage members not only to provide face-to-face counsel,
as appropriate, but to be aware and active participants in the political and
community discussions around peace, violence, and war.
Our experience with discussion of the Just War Framework at the
2007 World Conference and the vast experience our membership has with violence
and war in very personal ways, confirms the need for our community to continue
to speak about violence and peace-building. The WCPJT encourages members to take
advantage of information sessions and teaching materials as they become
available so that we become more-aware, passionate advocates for peace and
justice in our world.
Peace and Justice Studies Association
The First Presidency asked for a recommendation from the WCPJT
about whether to join the Peace and Justice Studies Association. The team
members researched this association and other international organizations and
provided the following recommendation in July 2008: (1) that we send a
representative to the upcoming conference to ensure that the organization will
be welcoming of Community of Christ’s perspective; (2) joining this primarily
North American association would be of value to the organization; however (3) we
should continue to explore membership in the umbrella international organization
and encourage mission centers to engage in appropriate regional organization.
In addition to these three tasks officially assigned to the
WCPJT, the team felt it timely and important to spend time on two other issues
of importance to the World Church body.
International Representation
As Community of Christ grapples with the Enduring Principle of
unity in diversity, the WCPJT has grappled with the issue of international
representation in team deliberations. This issue is related to a directive given
when the Peace Committee formed in 1982 to provide avenues for voices into the
dialogue of the World Church.
As we consider culturally contentious issues it is critical that
we speak to each other from our diverse perspectives and find a way to do this
with respect. Members were added to this team with particular expertise in
international initiatives and translation to bring practical insight to this
process, along with ideals of inclusion.
After much discussion and thoughtful consideration, the WCPJT identified some
key barriers to international representation and involvement from outside
dominant Western countries (US, Canada, Australia) on this committee. A language
caucus team model was proposed for trial in the next inter-Conference period.
The critical elements:
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Language caucus groups (English, French, Spanish) with fewer
than ten people per language representing different geographical areas.
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Each language team would work with a couple of World Church
teams, for example Peace and Justice and Human Rights to maximize the number
of perspectives available to each team. This may or may not need to apply
immediately to English-speaking team members.
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Each language caucus will have the lead on particular topics
and be encouraged to raise new issues to minimize the perception that
non-English-speaking persons provide only input but not leadership in World
Church teams.
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Coordination of team meetings among several World Church
teams would facilitate greater input from language caucuses. Additionally,
the in-person meeting location and time zone can shift to provide equal
opportunity for all team members to gather with other team members at least
once for fellowship and to facilitate working relationships.
Facilitating Member Dialogue and Awareness
It has become clear there needs to be a focus for dialogue and
sharing specific items and actions for members to access at the local level. We
are thrilled at the World Church Web site (www.CofChrist.org/peace/)
redesign that has created a place for Peace and Justice resources to be found
and referenced easily. In particular, we hold up the official statements,
issues, and resources sections as being of particular value for congregations
and individuals interested in joining the worldwide community in raising issues
of importance to the worth of all persons.
Moving forward, the WCPJT would like to encourage the First
Presidency, church leadership, and local congregations to continue to actively
search for ways and opportunities to share issues of justice and peace that are
of concern in local areas and mission centers with their global community of
brothers and sisters in Christ.
Guidance to the Next Peace and Justice Team
The next team is charged to implement these ideas and continue
the work toward inclusivity and providing a voice for all church jurisdictions
regarding peace and justice issues of relevance to the World Church.
Discussion among the group has brought to the forefront many
issues regarding the steps by which church members can dialogue about peace and
justice issues within their mission centers and globally with others who share
an interest and passion for these topics.
In addition, we wish to uphold the challenge in the 2007 Report
to help the church look “beyond war” and conflict to examine steps to examine
ways to foster positive peacebuilding skills within the members and friends of
Community of Christ.
The team members would like to thank the First Presidency for
the opportunity to serve the body of Community of Christ, and we fully support
the continuation of the committee and its work in the next inter-Conference
period.
World Church Peace and Justice Team
Jennifer Robinson, team lead
David Anderson
Andrew Bolton (ex-officio)
Rick Collins
Richard Cordova
Rod Downing
Paul Edwards
Angie Elliot-Koene
Susanne Holloway Imrie
Sergio Juarez
Paul Judd
Marjie Martens
Rick Sarre
Christie Skoorsmith
Karli Smith
