HOW TO START A CHURCH-BASED PEACEMAKER GROUP
by Michael L. Westmoreland-White
The following steps to a vital congregational peacemaker group are based on the “inward journey/outward journey” mission group model developed by Washington, D.C.’s Church of the Savior. (See Elizabeth O'Connor, Journey Inward, Journey Outward [New York: Harper & Row, 1968, 1975].) This model has been applied specifically to peacemaker groups in congregations in the Church of the Savior’s “World Peacemaker” project (see their Handbook for World Peacemakers) and in Glen Stassen’s Journey into Peacemaking (Memphis, TN: The Brotherhood Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1983, 1987). This process is recommend as a way to begin a local Every Church A Peace Church support and action group.
1. Gather a small group of laypersons in the congregation interested in deepening the peacemaking dimension of their Christian discipleship. The ideal size of a congregational peacemaker group is six to twelve members. This is because the tasks of the group members will be based on their gifts. Much smaller than six and some essential roles may not be filled or may be filled by those whose stronger gifts are elsewhere. Larger than twelve and a group begins to have active leaders and passive attendees instead of active roles utilizing the gifts of each member. If a group grows too large, it is best to start another peacemaker group. You may begin with one other person (see http://www.ecapc.org/partner.asp) and each of you ask others who might be interested, explaining that you will learn together how to make peacemakers. We don’t assume that people begin as experts; this is a journey in discipleship.
2. Make sure the group is lay-led, but has the support of the church leadership. If the church pastor (or members of the pastoral team) leads the group, the tendency will be to let her or him do all the work. Further, in many congregations outside the “historic peace churches,” a peacemaker group may be controversial and the pastor has to minister to all the church. She or he may not want to be seen as approving every action of the group. On the other hand, approval of the peacemaker group by church leaders is crucial. Seek the approval of whichever committee or structure is appropriate for your church’s way of carrying out its mission, and make reports to that committee regularly, so that the peacemaker group is accepted as part of the church’s ministry. If a congregation’s pastor actively opposes such a peacemaker group, start it in another congregation. Membership in the peacemaker group should be open to people who are not members of the congregation. Indeed, experience has shown that non-members who participate in the peacemaker group often later join the church--a factor that has raised the approval of the group among the more evangelistic or church-growth-oriented members.
3. Assign roles to members based on the group’s discernment of the members’ spiritual gifts. It is crucial that the leadership of the group be shared so that a sense of responsibility for the group is widespread. The meeting in which the “discernment of gifts” takes place is the key strength or weakness of a peacemaker group. In some traditions, members may be hesitant to call out the gifts because they are not used to doing this, but it turns out to be a very fun meeting with mutual affirmation. Group members offer their affirmations of the gifts of one member until that member agrees with the role that it suggests s/he take up. Then together they discern the gifts of the next member, etc.
There are various non-identical lists of spiritual gifts in the letters of the Apostle Paul. The following list and its application to church peacemaker groups is taken from Romans 12 and the books cited above.
The practi
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