Mennonite
Central
Committee

Integrating peacemaking into relief, development and service

Mennonite Central Committee believes that since much of human suffering is due to unjust social systems and human exploitation, issues of justice are frequently intertwined with issues of hunger, disease and illiteracy.

People who want to serve with MCC are asked to describe their commitment to peacemaking, based on their Christian faith. MCC seeks a clear statement from applicants that war is incompatible with God's call to unconditionally love others.

MCC volunteers work to relieve human suffering and achieve social justice because they believe God cares for all persons. They follow Christ's example by striving for justice, identifying with the weak and oppressed and reconciling the oppressor and the oppressed.

MCC's commitment to peace and peacemaking translates into various types of programs, depending on the setting.

MCC workers in the Philippines stated their commitment this way:

We seek to be a witness against forces that contribute to poverty, injustice and violence. We try particularly to address root problems, and not only symptoms. Our efforts involve, on the one hand, confronting foreign-imposed obstacles to true people-centered development and, on the other hand, lending support to Filipino groups working creatively to transform their society into one characterized by peace and justice.

In the politically-complex Middle East, MCC work focuses on people left out of society's power structures. MCC volunteers assist people who have lost homes and possessions through natural disasters, such as earthquakes, and political disasters, like those in Palestine and Iraq. MCC volunteers strive to present themselves to the people of the Middle East in a way that counters stereotypes of Westerners. At the same time, MCC workers learn that Western stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims must also be challenged and are committed to sharing their appreciation and understanding of Middle Eastern peoples with North Americans.

Since 1980 MCC, financially and with personnel, has supported conflict resolution programs as one way to make peace. MCC U.S. Mennonite Conciliation Service holds a training institute each summer; participants learn skills that enable them to mediate school, family, church and community conflicts. Internationally, MCC workers with mediation skills support local partners in bringing conciliation training to people caught in war or the aftermath of war. Churches in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Mozambique and Liberia, with MCC assistance, sponsor workshops aimed at healing people and communities recovering from war trauma. MCC also supports specialists who travel extensively to mediate conflicts and encourage opposing sides to talk rather than fight.

Conflicts make relief, service and development work necessary and difficult. Tensions and conflicts also challenge workers to witness and learn. MCC workers constantly explore creative ways to relate to conflicts within the cultural contexts in which they live and work.

Harold Miller, longtime eastern Africa MCC worker, posed the central question: "How do we make more effective and fruitful the marriage of the peace imperative to MCC presence and program?"

MCC workers have suggested that peacemaking in field situations be carried out in the following ways:

• Cultivating a peaceable spirit through disciplined meditation and prayer.
• Being a reconciling presence in the midst of interpersonal and group tensions and conflicts.
• Learning from, relating to and supporting national and local peacemaking efforts. This may include gathering local peacemaking stories, songs and symbols, and studying the underlying themes and values that shape a culture's response to conflict.
• Placing MCC workers who have special peacemaking skills in national and local institutions and agencies. This occasionally involves providing study opportunities for staff from these institution and agencies.
• Explaining that peacemaking and enemy-love is the heart of the Christian life. Offering practical training in conciliation and mediation as a way to make this part of everyday experience.
• Providing international conciliation training in order to encourage people trapped in conflict to take the first steps toward reconciliation.
• Writing letters to interpret MCC's concerns for peace and justice to government officials and representatives, especially when policies affect situations where MCC has experience.
• Building relationships and introducing the biblical foundation, peacemaking orientation and development philosophy of MCC to church and community leaders in the countries that have MCC programs.
• Sharing the collective, cumulative knowledge and observations of MCC workers with home churches and decision-making individuals and groups in Canada and the United States.
• Sponsoring seminars that focus broadly on the issue of peace, conferences that look more specifically at peace interests of Mennonite churches, and workshops for MCC personnel on the practical aspects of peacemaking.

Over the years MCC staff have been assigned specific responsibilities in the areas of peace justice. MCC has three departments that focus primarily on peace issues and education - the international MCC Peace Office, MCC Canada Peace and Social Concerns Committee and MCC U.S. Peace and Justice Ministries.

The ongoing MCC peace witness depends on the vision and commitment of its workers. MCC therefore seeks individuals who share this vision, are challenged by it and wish to help MCC creatively implement its peacemaking witness. If you have questions please write to the Mennonite Central Committee.