How to Start a Church Based Peacemaker Group

HOW TO START A CHURCH-BASED PEACEMAKER GROUP
by Michael L. Westmoreland-White

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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 practical servant or the pastor/prophet nurtures the members of the group, attending to their needs, encouraging them, celebrating with them, caring and grieving with them. This role also includes confrontation and accountability when members need it. There can be more than one to a group.

The shepherd gives guidance and instruction to those interested in the peacemaker group, and to new members as they get oriented, including seeing that their gifts are named and a responsibility assumed by their third or fourth meeting as a member.. Usually, a few weeks of instruction turns an interested outsider into an enthusiastic member who is ready to assume her or his own responsibilities.

The teacher explains and leads in discussion. In many successful peacemaker groups there are two teachers: one who keeps the group studying things to deepen their inward journey (e.g., biblical teachings on peacemaking) and one who keeps them studying some aspect of social injustice or some local or global problem that the group is considering tackling. The best teachers also encourage others to share in teaching responsibility.

The action-guide gets connected with action suggestions that come from the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Peace Action, Witness for Peace, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Mennonite Peace & Justice Support Network, and/or other local and national peacemaker organizations that send action alerts. The action guide sifts through such alerts and suggests actions that the peacemaker group can decide to tackle as a group project.

The spiritual guide asks periodically how members’ prayer lives are proceeding, and, if they decide to keep journals as they pray, the spiritual guide may be given copies of some pages of the journal in order to give discerning encouragement. Congregational peacemaking groups are not merely activist organizations, but are “inward and outward journey” mission groups, and it is crucial that some small action (see below) and some focus on prayer discipline begins from the start--not after weeks of meeting so that other, more passive, habits form.

The distributor or almsgiver is the peacemaker group’s poverty and world hunger specialist. This person is especially concerned with the causes of poverty and hunger, helps others to learn about those causes, and seeks ways to help the group (and the congregation) address them with practical solutions.

The mercy-shower is the group’s human rights specialist. Here, the biblical term for mercy doesn’t mean “letting off easy,” but acting to solve a problem of human need. The mercy-shower is like the Good Samaritan who “showed mercy” to the victim in the ditch. The mercy-shower in the peacemaker group is acutely aware of the connection between human rights violations and violence or war or violent revolution. The mercy- shower and the almsgiver keep the group’s approach to peace from degenerating into a form of appeasing oppression or silencing victims.

The administrator or moderator acts to see that each member is exercising a gift on behalf of the group. She or he works to see that the various gifts and roles complement one another.

The apostle, or evangelist, or outreach leader is commissioned by the group to call others into faithful Christian discipleship and either join the group or start another. With other members, the evangelist seeks to help start other peacemaker groups in other churches so that the network spreads.

These roles may be adjusted according to the gifts of the members, although it is important that each group have a spiritual guide and an action-guide so that the group works on its inward and outward journeys. Some other gifts may be discerned, such as troubadour, hospitality-giver, etc., depending on who the members are.

4. Begin and/or end each meeting with prayer. Pray for the members of the group, for others in their families and circles of friends, in the congregation. Pray also for specific situations of war, violence, injustice, or other forms of “un-peace.” In many cases, the group practices silent or “listening prayer,” broken only by brief concerns discerned in the Spirit. Members seek to deepen their own prayer lives at home, and this becomes a topic of sharing, from time to time in a meeting. The group should seek ways to connect their prayers with action, and to raise these prayer concerns to the wider church.

5. Always be studying something. The group should always be studying something new, either an aspect of the “inward journey” of spiritual growth (e.g., a spirituality of nonviolence) or some “outward journey” focus (e.g., the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in depth or causes of domestic violence or capital punishment, etc.)

6. Always be working on some action or project, no matter how large or small. The group can write letters to elected representatives about a pending matter of legislation, or decide to join a march for fair housing. It can plan a worship service for the entire church on World Peace Sunday or Human Rights Day or the Sunday closest to Martin Luther King’s birthday. It can work to get peace brochures in the guidance counseling offices of public schools to balance the brochures put out by the military. It can hold a “teach-in” on the military budget near the April 15th deadline for filing income taxes. Some groups will engage in very bold actions and others smaller, more modest actions. The important thing is that some action is always upcoming and is publicized to the whole congregation and the wider public. Publish your actions (and their results) with Every Church a Peace Church and/or other peace groups with which you may be involved.

7. Work to make connections between your congregational peacemaker group and other efforts for peace and justice. One member of the group may also belong to a non- religious peace group locally or nationally, giving a Christian witness in that group and bringing its concerns back to the group. Another may belong to a labor union or a business leaders’ association and enable two-way communication in those relations. Another may be involved in a prison visitation ministry. Make certain that your group finds ways to meet other Christian peacemakers from time to time (e.g., going to an ECAPC-sponsored event or the annual national meeting of a denominational peace fellowship, etc.) Check the ECAPC website regularly for such opportunities (See http://www.ecapc.org/schedule.asp). Isolation leads to feelings of powerlessness, but connections empower and encourage.

8. Work to take the peacemaker group’s concerns to the whole congregation, to the larger denomination, and/or local, national or global ecumenical groups in which the congregation belongs. This may be a slow process and will inevitably lead to some tensions. In this way, some groups have transformed whole congregations into de facto “peace churches” from within. Others have found it necessary to start “house church” peace churches. (To explore a connection with Every Church A Peace Church see http://www.ecapc.org/join.asp).

9. Write a one-paragraph covenant for the group. Mission groups in the Church of the Savior and in the World Peacemaker groups they inspired write a one-paragraph covenant for the group naming a few commitments that members make, since the life of the group depends on the reliability of their members. Commitments include regular participation in meetings and projects unless other commitments or events seriously hinder the member for a six-month period, and then a decision to continue or not. It is vital that members not drift in and out; the group relies on them. Members who decide to leave tell the group, and are commissioned by the group for the next journey they will take up. This way the group can rely on members to carry out their callings and responsibilities while they are in the group, and those who leave feel blessed.

A church-based peacemaker group can change both the church and the world. We hope that you will use this process, form a group, and enjoy the journey! Additional resources for small group study can be found at http://www.ecapc.org/unite.asp.

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