Mennonite Weekly Review

Mennonite Church USA and other historic peace churches are inviting U.S. Christian leaders to participate in “Heeding God’s Call: A Gathering on Peace” Jan. 13-17 in Philadelphia.

MC USA, the Church of the Brethren and the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) are co-sponsoring the gathering.

All U.S. member churches that are part of Mennonite World Conference, including Conservative Mennonite Conference, Mennonite Brethren and Brethren in Christ, as well as other Anabaptist groups, have been invited to send representatives.

“The Philadelphia gathering is for Christian leaders to discern God’s leading regarding our witness for peace during a time of escalating violence,” said J. Fred Kauffman, who works for Mennonite Central Committee East Coast and represents MC USA on the peace gathering’s executive committee.

The initial vision for the event came from the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, which invited Brethren and Mennonites to co-sponsor the gathering. The stated purpose is “strengthening our witness and work for peace in the world by inspiring hope, raising voices, taking action.”

Planners expect about 600 registrants, half of them from the three sponsoring denominations. The other 300 will represent various Christian traditions. Those invited include member bodies of the National Council of Churches, other denominations with membership over 100,000 as well as denominational peace fellowships and several ecumenical peace and justice organizations.

“Pray that, as Christians from many backgrounds and persuasions meet, we indeed hear Jesus’ call to peacemaking. We need to find public ways to speak to our time and challenge the idolatry of nation-worship and its violence,” Kauffman said.

“My personal hope is that participants will be open to the movement of God’s Spirit, lift up Jesus as Savior and Lord and issue a ringing call for local and global peacemaking to the church in the United States.”

Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision for peace lies at the heart of the gathering. The national holiday on Jan. 19 marks King’s birth and commemorates his role as spokesman for the nonviolent civil rights movement.

King colleague and historian Vincent Harding of Denver, who worked with his wife, Rosemarie, in representing the Mennonite church in the civil rights movement, will serve as elder for the gathering.

Registrants will gather Jan. 17 to worship in a public place with local congregations and participate in a peace action to speak out against handgun violence.

Besides Kauffman, Mennonites on committees to plan the gathering include Michelle Armster of MCC U.S. Conciliation Services; Bertha Beachy of Assembly Mennonite Church, Goshen, Ind.; Drick Boyd and Andy Peifer of West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship; Leo Hartshorn of Mennonite Mission Network; Susan Mark Landis, MC USA peace advocate; Hubert Schwartzendruber of Plains Mennonite Church, Hatfield, Pa.; and Ruth Wenger of North Bronx (N.Y.) Mennonite Church.