Study guide to help prepare world convocation on peace
Geneva (WCC) — “Telling the Truth About Ourselves and Our World”, a study guide on overcoming violence in contemporary contexts, has been published by the World Council of Churches in English, French, German and Spanish as part of the build-up to the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) in May 2011 at Kingston, Jamaica.
Gathering about 1,000 representatives from church-related peace networks from all over the world, the convocation will mark the culmination of the ongoing ecumenical Decade to Overcome Violence (2001-2010) – Churches Seeking Reconciliation and Peace.
Four main sections of the study guide provide resources for discussion of the central themes of the IEPC: peace in the community, peace with the Earth, peace in the marketplace and peace among peoples.
The pattern suggested as a process for considering each theme provides an opportunity to relate the theme to one’s own context and experience, further reflection on the theme in a global perspective, a search for one’s own vision of peace and a commitment to action.
The study guide also provides resources for prayer, study, further reading and action.
The publication is now available in English, French, German and Spanish on the Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV) website.
Printed booklets may be ordered from dov@wcc-coe.org; these hard copies are free of charge, but there will be a charge for shipping quantities of more than 25.
The DOV would welcome offers to translate the study guide into additional languages. Such translations would then be posted on the website.
The new study guide is a follow-up to the widely used DOV publication “Why Violence? Why Not Peace?” which has been translated into 16 languages.
Study guide “Telling the Truth About Ourselves and Our World” (pdf, 1.1 MB)
Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV)
International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC)
Bridgefolk director calls new book the fruit of much interchurch dialogue
Gerald W. Schlabach, Bridgefolk co-founder and long-time director, has just published a new book on the practices of stability that all Christian churches need to sustain community in an age of individualism and mobility of all kinds. “I know I’m being a little provocative with the title,” says Schlabach, “but Unlearning Protestantism is really the fruit of many years of interchurch dialogue. I have tried to listen to various traditions as they have grappled with the challenges of loyalty and dissent, and to share my reflections in a way that helps all of us grow together toward Christ.” Read more
Resource for interchurch families
Follow this link to the website for the Association of Interchurch Families. The organization “seeks to link all those families, groups, and Associations so that together we may grow in Christian unity, and become for our churches an ever-greater gift of healing of the scandal of disunity.
It takes seriously both our marriage commitment to one another and the fact that two churches are represented in our family; by affirming at local, national and global levels the gifts of interchurch families and their potential as a catalyst for wider church unity.”
The most recent newsletter can be found here. Topics in this newsletter include “Spiritual Ecumenism in Interchurch Marital Spirituality” and “Interchurch Families: Domestic Churches.”
Recommended reading: “As Different as We Think: Catholics and Protestants”
Protestants and Catholics may use much the same vocabulary to express their respective beliefs and practices, but behind this common language lie different ways of thinking. Becoming aware of and paying attention to these differences is essential for fruitful ecumenical dialogue.
Bridgefolk board member Darrin Snyder Belousek calls our attention to a recent article in Books & Culture that explores those background assumptions in an especially succinct and helpful way. The full article is not available online, except to the magazine’s subscribers, but Darrin shares his summary below: Read more
Resources for prayer for Christian unity
Click here for Resources for The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and throughout the year, jointly prepared and published by The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and The Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches.
Mennonite historian reviews book by Ivan Kauffman
John A. Lapp, Mennonite historian and former executive secretary of Mennonite Central Committee, writes favorable review of a Follow Me: A History of Christian Intentionality by Bridgefolk co-founder Ivan J. Kauffman in this week’s issue of Mennonite Weekly Review. Click here to read.
Joint statement by Mennonites and Catholics to WCC Decade to Overcome Violence now available
Following up on their 1998-2003 dialogue and ground-breaking document, Called Together to Be Peacemakers Mennonite and Catholic leaders met together for a brief conference October 23-25, 2007 in order to offer joint suggestions for the World Council of Churches’ Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV). The DOV will culminate in an International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) in 2011. In preparation, representatives from the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Mennonite World Conference met at the Centro Pro Unione in Rome with the goal of submitting theological reflections that Mennonites and Catholics, committed to overcoming violence, might affirm together as a witness to peace in the ecumenical context. Read more
Building Bridges of Reconciliation in Latin America
A recent publication from the Mennonite Central Committee — the cooperative agency of Mennonite denominations in North America for relief, development and peacebuilding — surveys bridge-building efforts between Roman Catholics and Evangelicals in Latin America. The April-June issue of the Peace Office Newsletter is available online at http://mcc.org/peace/pon/PON_2007-02.pdf. Introducing the newsletter is the following article: Read more
Two new books by Bridgefolk (good conference prep!)
Earlier this year Herald Press published two books written or edited by Bridgefolk board members Marlene Kropf and Gerald Schlabach. The themes of peacemaking and worship at God’s table coincide with the theme of our upcoming conference: Making Peace: At Table, in the World. Dip into one or both of these books as you prepare to attend the conference or join us in prayer. Read more
