The modalities of church’s action in Peacebuilding – 1
Dr. Michel E. Abs
The Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC)
Embeddedness of Peace in Christianity
Jesus was named the Prince of Peace because He chose to be sacrificed for our sins to reconcile human beings with God. He mended our broken relationship to God & restored it so we can have peace. Receiving Jesus’ gift of eternal life restores our peace with God and allows us to love others as God loves us, therefore, our relationship with others is restored too. Therefore, He became the way for humans to reconcile with God and have peace with themselves first before having it with other human beings.
This is the foundation of peace in the church.
This way we become peacemakers, as Jesus, our Lord, is called the Prince of Peace – this puts a Historical responsibility on Christians and the church.
At the same time, Jesus reassures the faithful: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”–John 16:33
Christianity being the faith of love, its faith-based peace approach finds its roots in the teaching of Jesus Christ and His actions, which basis is Love. This is the way it can make a difference in the world, because, as has been proven throughout human history, nothing is stronger than love.
Church in Peacebuilding
In Peacebuilding, the church is invited to use its two comparative advantages, which implies that
the modalities are two-dimensional:
The Logos: The church is called to use the “word”: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). The word is the domain in which the church is the most efficient: the word that heals, the word that appeases, the word that blesses, and the word that educates, based on Christian Love.
The Praxis: The way the Word is lived in the world. It is the action at all social levels, from the livelihood to the medical, to the educational, to the developmental fields. It is the way the Word is concretized through deeds.
Christ who came for our salvation, fed the hungry, helped the destitute, healed the ailing, protected the most vulnerable, taught the people, and rehabilitated the woman taken in adultery.
The Logos: "word, discourse, & reason," includes the following dimensions:
1- Enhancing the culture of peace among believers and fellow citizens:
As mentioned in the beginning, Christians should be in peace with God and with themselves to be instruments of God’s peace as Saint Francis of Assisi says. This is done by proper Christian education and proper understanding of the Christian faith. Church schools, as well as the parishes and different church related organizations are the channels for that.
This inner peace and reconciliation with the Redeemer can “contaminate” many non-Christian groups of society, who keep their original religion. This pattern becomes a national sociocultural characteristic.
2- Promoting Dialogue in society among all groups
The Church is called to be an initiator and a supporter of dialogue initiatives with different groups of which society is composed: Religious, ethnic, sociocultural, demographic, etc. The topics of dialogue should be the ones that concern society in its daily as well as long term life: Crucial critical issues.
Dialogue is a mean and, at the same time, is a target by itself:
- A mean to reach a resolution about an important social issue
- A target, as it is needed as such: dialogue develops the culture of openness, makes rapprochement between groups, and develops knowledge
Dialogue is not always supposed to reach a resolution. The aim is that it is carried-on; thus, it decreases animosity, and limits hate speech, stereotyping and demonization others.
3- Developing knowledge and combating ignorance and prejudice
Through educational settings belonging to the church, knowledge develops, and ignorance recedes.
The educational settings that belong to the church are immense and strong in scope . Schools, universities, cultural centers, media, publishing houses, etc. are essential means to promote knowledge in society. The church is called to use them as channels. Moreover, the church is also called to include peace education in curricula, from school to university.
4- Church related media
Church-related media proved to be efficient in the Middle East, as well as worldwide. TV stations, radio, social media, are always having increasing numbers of followers. These tools proved to be powerful instruments to influence people, Christians, and non-Christians, by spreading the good word. They constitute the channels to promote all sorts of behavioral patterns and to influence public opinion on many crucial issues. The church is called to use them to promote the culture of peace as a part of the process of peacebuilding.
To be continued…