DownloadJuly 21, 2008 issue
When is a peace church no longer a peace church?
The gospel of peace integrally belongs to the good news about Jesus Christ. — Marlin E. Miller
By Leo HartshornWhen is a peace church no longer a peace church? This question has haunted me ever since I became an Anabaptist-Mennonite more than 20 years ago.
God has given Mennonites a gift: We are historically shaped by Christ’s way of peace. If we diminish or abandon this part of our identity, we lose our sense of who we are and our giftedness by God.
I was first attracted to the Anabaptist movement in 1986 through the influence of the late Baptist theologian James William McClendon Jr., a member of the congregation where I was pastor in the San Francisco Bay Area. McClendon encouraged me to study the Anabaptist movement as the historical foundation for my Baptist faith. Having been involved in peace and social issues, I was particularly drawn to the Anabaptist peace witness.
When I took my first pastorate in a Mennonite congregation, I was eager to get involved in peace and justice work in a church that would fully support my beliefs and actions. I helped form a peace and justice committee, and we set out to do a public peace action before Christmas against war toys.
After the action was announced at a Sunday service, a church member told me a number of young families would leave the church if we proceeded with it. I was taken aback by this response from young adults raised as Mennonites. It was ironic: The first conflict in my newly found “peace church” was over peace!
For many young, evangelically oriented Mennonites in my congregation, peace was an optional part of the gospel or a private belief that had more to do with avoiding military service than any active, public or holistic understanding of peace.
This was the first step in a long journey of waking up from my naïve views about peace within my new Mennonite affiliation.
What percentage?
Over the years I began to notice how many Mennonite leaders and congregations had little interest or involvement with peace, let alone justice. It still disturbs me that so many Mennonites view peace as peripheral to the Christian faith.
On a number of occasions I encountered Mennonite pastors who were afraid to preach on peace in their congregations but who welcomed someone from outside the congregation to come and do it for them!
Comments
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Thank you for this article. I agree with the author. However, one of the troubling things to me in the Mennonite church today is that if emphasis is placed on peace and justice, it is more about not going to war and providing justice for people in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. What about peace and justice between me and my spouse, my children, my co-workers and my fellow brothers and sisters in the congregation I attend? This seems to take a back seat. How can we as Mennonites be a peace witness in far flung corners of the world if we cannot get along in our homes, churches and communities?
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To emphasize peace and justice does not necessarily mean focusing on war and providing justice to peoples in foreign lands. That is part of the limited view that I noted was among Mennonites who do hold to a "peace position." But also, there is a real need for working for justice within the U.S., particularly related to marginalized groups. I didn't have space to comment further, but I was pointing to the practice of a more holistic understanding of peace and justice that includes personal, interpersonal, and especially spiritual dimensions, which would include issues such as interpersonal and congregational conflict and communication. My concerns within the article did include having peace and justice as a part of Mennonite "congregational spiritual formation." That means practices of forgivess, reconciliation, conflict resolution, etc., within local congregations. Among my assumptions is that peace and justice are grounded in the vision of God, the life and teachings of Christ, and the movement of the Holy Spirit.
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It seems that the core praxis of peace is to know and invite difference into my world and participate with it in another's world. How can we cross these divisions if we're still determining what peace and justice is for communities in which we have not served? I love the Anabaptist tradition, but as you know, violence is always directly correlated with exclusion of resources. Who's doing the excluding?
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