Mennonite Weekly Review

The vision for Christian Peacemaker Teams — put forth initially by Ron Sider, author and professor, at the 1984 Mennonite World Conference assembly in France — is 25 years old this year.

Sider called on Christians to “risk everything for our belief that Jesus is the way to peace,” being “prepared to die by the thousands.” He now sees that address as a bit “melodramatic,” he said Feb. 15 at Bethel College. Perhaps, but the power in his words still resonates and raises tough questions about the cost of following Christ.

Yet Sider’s idea of returning to that vision and expanding it, expressed in a lecture at Bethel, “It’s Time to Get Serious About Christian Peacemaker Teams,” risks diverting resources from some promising new directions in which CPT is headed.

CPT works with local partners and starts projects at the invitation of people in the conflict area. Recently, the organization has increasingly trained peacemakers from project areas outside of North America.

Colombia became the first CPT project outside of the United States and Canada to include nationals on its team in 2002-03, initially because of difficulty getting visas for North Americans. What was born out of need has blossomed into a project where Colombians and North Americans work together under the leadership of project support coordinator Sandra Rincón, a Colombian. CPT is also planning to hold peacemaker training in Colombia in June and December.

Further, the project support coordinator for the team in Hebron is Palestinian-American. And in Iraq, the Christian peacemaker team supported the efforts of Iraqis to create Muslim Peacemaker Teams and train a group of peacemakers.

CPT’s direction of empowering leadership from the cultures in which projects are located, rather than sending North Americans by the thousands, is just as faithful, and has the potential to be just as effective, or more so.

There have been times and places in which the privilege attached to citizenship in a Western country allows CPT to better accompany communities in conflict areas. But that is not an essential aspect of CPT’s work. In some situations, such as in Iraq, the tables are turned. Western citizenship can put both CPT members and local peacemakers in greater danger.

People living amid conflict must choose nonviolence for themselves. They can do this even as they are bolstered by others who risk their lives to stand against such injustice. Many see nonviolence as integral to their own freedom and security.

Members of CPT’s Peacemaker Corps who have met that challenge are not just Anabaptist. They are Anglican, Catholic, Evangelical Covenant, Lutheran, Missionary Alliance, Nazarene and Pentecostal, among other affiliations.