Is Your Church A Peace Church?

The church could turn the world toward peace if every church lived and taught as Jesus lived and taught.

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The Peace Church Way

    1. I/We affirm hope in Jesus and the way of love which he lived and taught as the heart of Christian truth and guide to the life of the church both internally and externally.
    2. I/We work to continue Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s black freedom struggle to release America and the world from the powers of racism, poverty and militarism.
    3. I/We support alternatives to war and violence such as Christian Peacemaker Teams and conscientious objection, making peace through nonviolent action for justice.

Read an article on "The Peace Church Way" http://www.ecapc.org/articles/article-8458.htm

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The Peace Church Affirmation

Following Jesus in nonviolent struggle for justice and peace, we love our neighbors and enemies as God loves us all, becoming a peace church to share in God’s work to save the world.
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How to Start a Church-based Peacemaker Group http://ecapc.org/howtostart.asp

Five Characteristics of a Peace Church -- Bienenberg Declaration

The process one church is using -- Jeff Street Baptist, Louisville

(You could start here with a "what if" question which raises possibilities for the future, if not the past.)
What if Every Church Had Been a Peace Church? -- by Kohls

Read the following 7 questions. By gently identifying some important matters, they begin to explain what a peace church is.

Might a peace church engage in serious Bible study about the teachings and life of Jesus, believing that Jesus offers a better understanding of power, violence and nonviolence than we get from the culture around us? ~ Discussion Guide: Resources; A Pastor Speaks: Jesus and Allegiance

Would a peace church look again at what Martin Luther King, Jr. lived and taught, using the power of prayer and training for nonviolent activist intervention to challenge the triple evils of racism, materialism and militarism? ~ See The Wisdom Of M. L. King

In response to violence in the families, schools and communities of America, would not a peace church be exploring the power of forgiveness and nonviolence as its alternative to retribution and escalated violence? ~ Families Against Violence Network

In what it says about sin, might a peace church raise questions about the most deadly and indiscriminate of weapons, which envision chemical, biological, nuclear and space warfare? ~ Military Leaders Question Bombing of Hiroshima

Would a peace church be exploring potential links between military violence, domestic violence, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the message of the church, hearing the call to conscientious objection to war? ~ PTSD, Veterans and the Church -- Kohls; see also "Nonviolent Action as 'The Sword that Heals'" by George Lakey, challenging Ward Churchill's "Pacifism as Pathology"

Would a peace church sense a responsibility to teach the stewardship of the earth and care for the environment so that future generations may have a livable planet? ~ FCUN (Friends Committee on Unity With Nature); Mennonite Environmental Task Force; religon and environment

Might a peace church endorse the World Council of Churches' Decade to Overcome Violence, and the Nobel Laureates' and UN call for a decade to develop a culture of nonviolence, so that children may be freed from the frightening threats of war, injury and death?

If you can help your church to explore these questions, then we welcome you to participate in and help expand the global network of creative nonviolence. Of course other questions must be added, and we encourage you to do that (without ignoring these)!

See Prophetic Article on Church's Failure and Hope -- Dr. Kohls
What if Every Church Had Been a peace Church? -- Dr. Kohls

See ENDORSEMENTS of ECAPC

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Every Church A Peace Church
PO Box 240, Akron, PA 17501 USA
717.859.1958
jstoner@ecapc.org

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