May 10, 2010 issue
Colombians’ peace work praised
Mission director is guest at AMBS
By Mary E. Klassen Associated Mennonite Biblical SeminaryELKHART, Ind. — Mission leader Linda Shelly shared bread from a local Hispanic bakery during her visit to Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary.
Linda Shelly, director for mission relationships in Latin America for Mennonite Mission Network, shares bread from a local Hispanic bakery during her visit to Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary April 20-23 while she talked about celebrations in Colombia that raise awareness of the need to work for peace. — Photo by Mary E. Klassen/AMBS
As the seminary’s Peace and Justice Guest, she recounted the work of Colombian Mennonites and the Pan y Paz (Bread and Peace) celebrations.
Pan y Paz began in 2002, Shelly told the seminary’s Peace and Justice Colloquium, when the Colombian Mennonite Church and Justapaz, the Christian Center for Justice, Peace and Nonviolent Action, raised a call for peacebuilding in the country. This has now become an annual celebration, correlating with the United Nations Universal Day of Peace and Nonviolence.
“Churches go to the streets with bread to raise the level of awareness about working for peace. This attracts attention in a way that handing out tracts does not,” she said. With the bread, people also receive a document asking them to make a commitment to spirituality and nonviolence.
By now, 30 denominations have joined the effort. In 2008 more than 12,000 people participated in 54 celebrations that included music, dramas and folk dancing in the streets.
In one setting people received a “vaccination against violence” — not a vaccination against being a victim, Shelly emphasized, but against using violence.
“The Mennonite Church in Colombia is remarkably small for the amount of work they do in the work for justice,” Shelly said.
Shelly was the seminary’s guest April 20-23, speaking in chapel, weekly forum and several classes. She is director for mission relationships in Latin America for Mennonite Mission Network, a role in which she relates to workers, churches and other partners in 10 countries in Latin America.
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