The second Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival, held June 27-30 in the Netherlands, drew more than 200 peacebuilders, including Bible, religion and theology professor and secretary Andrew Suderman and Intensive English Program director Karen Suderman. Gloria Rhodes, associate professor of peacebuilding and conflict studies, presented on personal formation for peacebuilding practice.聽
Senior Lindsay Acker, Nicole Litwiller ’19 and Luke Mullet ’19 also presented their project , which includes stories from survivors of sexual violence, visual art and audio accompaniment. Acker and Litwiller are now studying at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, while Mullet has joined EMU’s admissions team. Junior Aaron Horst was also present.
The following article from the August 5, 2019, issue of Mennonite World Review is reprinted with permission.
ELSPEET, The Netherlands 鈥� More than 200 peacebuilders launched a Global Anabaptist Peace Network at the second Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival June 27-30 at Mennorode retreat center.
Rooted in Mennonite World Conference鈥檚 Peace Commission, the network hopes to share prayer and advocacy requests, empower one another, develop a membership directory of peace-related Mennonite organizations and create spaces for encounter.
During the conference, panels, workshops, concerts, live theater, poetry reading, singing, prayers and other activities explored the theme 鈥淥n the Way of the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace,鈥� building on an ecumenical initiative promoted by the World Council of Churches.
One of the goals was to create a network of people from different contexts and fields related to Mennonite peacebuilding. Renate Enns, one of the volunteers, was moved by how connection grew during informal moments.
鈥淓veryone engaged with each other anytime,鈥濃�圗nns said. 鈥淵ou saw people from different ages and contexts talking with each other. That made this conference special. It showed that people really wanted to listen to each other.鈥�
Paulus Widjaja spoke about the challenges of working with Christians and Muslims in Indonesia.
鈥淧eacebuilding is not meant to just end conflict but to prevent future conflicts by building strong infrastructure,鈥� he said.
Widjaja鈥檚 reference to infrastructure exemplified the importance strengthening relations among Mennonite peacebuild颅ers, learning from peace practices and discerning together about ways to engage with different contexts.
Presenters, panels and artistic performances addressed racism, colonialism, discrimination, exclusion and gender-based violence. Theatre of the Beat鈥檚 play #Churchtoo confronted people with issue of sexual abuse in churches. It was a catalyst for weighty questions, and many people were brought to tears.
Comforting for peace
One activity was 鈥淐omforting for Peace,鈥� under the guidance of Jeannette Stenvers and Marjan Huisman. Participants contrib颅uted to stitching comforters for refu颅gees. One was made around the theme of 鈥淢ennonites and Peacebuilding.鈥�
More than 100 participants designed single patches to be sewn into a comforter and offered to the World Council of Churches as a sign of how Mennonites are joining the ecumenical 鈥淧ilgrimage of Justice and Peace.鈥�
Jeannette Stenvers was moved not only by the number of people who joined to let their hands work for peace but also by the connections people made during this work and the many stories it brought out.
As the Global Anabaptist-Mennonite Peace Network was launched, Fulco van Hulst, a representative of the emerging network, said: 鈥淚n God鈥檚 grocery store we cannot buy things like world peace and the end to hunger but only the seeds of peace to spread across the world.鈥�
The first conference was organized in 2016 by Conrad Gre颅bel University College in Waterloo, Ont. 草莓社区 in Harrisonburg, Va., has expressed willingness to organize a third conference in 2022 but welcomes a bid from an institution in the Global South to host instead.