The Peacemakers Discussion Group (or PDG or simply Peacemakers) was founded in October of 2016, following a summer of violence in our country. That violence included police shootings of black men as well as the gunning down of police officers in Dallas. We in Peacemakers believed that the Body of Christ should respond to these …
When we think of peacemaking, likely what comes to most people’s minds are images of doves, joined hands, unity, love, etc. The reality is quite different. Peacemaking and reconciliation involve not only entering into spaces, situations where conflict is present, it also means that in attempting to bring peace, one often encounters conflict. The very …
For those who are followers of Christ, or who attend or have ever attended Christian churches in the US, at some time, often during a time of national crisis, you have heard this particular passage of Scripture proclaimed: “…if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my …
In April 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. found himself sitting in a jail cell in Birmingham, AL reading a letter written by eight, white pastors that was published in the newspaper. In their letter, although the pastors did acknowledge the racial injustices that their black brothers and sisters were experiencing in the south, they …
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the State of the Church Read More »
It was a Sunday morning in September in Birmingham, AL. The fifteenth of September. It was Youth Day, just after Sunday School at the 16th Street Baptist Church, when a bomb blast ripped through the brick building and took the lives of four little girls and left a fifth girl blind in one eye. These …
Part 1: An introduction to the Recipe We often have misconceptions about peace and conflict. Our inclination is to define peace as the absence of conflict. We avoid conflict, therefore we try to avoid “controversy,” uncomfortable topics, and painful truths. The end result, is quite often silence in the face of problems, silence in the …
A Recipe for Reconciliation: Truth, Conflict, & Peace Read More »
Series: How Peacemakers Began July 5, 2016, rolled around. It was a year to the day that I attended the first discussion of “Race, Confederacy, and the South” that Reverend Fletcher had held at the coffee shop. This was the same day that Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, was killed at almost point-blank range …
Part 5—Birth: The Summer of Blood and Birth of Peacemakers Discussion Group Read More »
Series: How Peacemakers Began Part 4—Germination: Winter of Conviction and Silence So, as the summer and fall of 2015 and the discussions about race at the coffee shop wound down and the Love Your Neighbor March concluded, I entered the late fall and winter months determine to somehow, learn to speak up to other Christians …
Part 4—Germination: Winter of Conviction and Silence Read More »
Series: How Peacemakers Began Part 3–Watering the Seeds: The Love Your Neighbor March Throughout the summer and fall of 2015, as the discussions on race, the Confederacy, and the South continued at the coffee shop, I did much soul searching, self-examination, as I grew more uncomfortable with my own silence in the face of the …
Part 3–Watering the Seeds: The Love Your Neighbor March Read More »
Series: How Peacemakers Began Part 2-Planting the Seeds: Real Talk at the Coffee Shop, Race, Confederacy and the South It was on a Monday night, July 6, 2015, when the seeds were sown that would eventually grow into what became the Peacemakers Discussion Group. That night, 13 Christian people, African-American, Caucasian, and Hispanic gathered around …
Part 2-Planting the Seeds: Real Talk at the Coffee Shop, Race, Confederacy and the South Read More »
