Sharp’s coworker Zaida CatalĂĄn wasĚýalso murdered. Their three Congolese drivers – Isaac Kabuayi and two unnamed others – are missing, as is Congolese interpreter Betu Tshintela, in the murders.

The scholarship provides need-based aid to graduate students at CJP, with priority given to students from the DRC.

Nyiringabo never met Sharp – but mutual friends have told him of Sharp’s life and passion.

“As a Congolese, I should live a life that honors his life and his sacrifices,” Nyiringabo said. “He gave his life for us, and for people he didn’t know. If foreigners can take risks, what about us? What about me? I have relatives in Congo, and am hoping that one day my grandchildren will live in Congo. Why should I keep quiet?”

Nyiringabo is the deputy coordinator of the Great Lakes Christian Peacebuilders Network and assistant coordinator of the Congo Peace Network. A graduate of the Protestant University of Rwanda, he was nominated in 2016 for the Inspired Individuals Program of Tearfund UK.

A ‘conflict background’

Nyiringabo describes himself as being “from a conflict background.”

The DRC’s civil war, which started in 1996, is in part fueled by the country’s vast natural resources including coltan, mined for use in cell phones and other electronics. , over the past year fighting forced 4.5 million people to flee their homes, and “more than 4.6 million Congolese children are acutely malnourished.”

When he was one year old, Nyiringabo’s father was killed by rebels and buried in a mass grave; his family still does not know where that is. At age 14, he said, he became an internally displaced person for two months, fleeing 45 miles on foot.

In his DRC work now, Nyiringabo provides trainings on using active nonviolence to confront human rights abuses and enable people to stand up for their rights. To do so violently, he said, could be interpreted as “acts of terrorism or rebellion.” Nonviolent action, on the other hand, brings about sustainable change.

Although churches in the DRC often reinforce tribe-based discrimination and the leaders of armed groups are sometimes also pastors in those churches, and although his own church upbringing condoned violence, Nyiringabo said he came to believe that was irreconcilable with Jesus’ teachings about peace, love and nonviolence.

Inspired by a visit to South Africa to learn about the African National Congress and in his undergraduate studies, he gained new insights into nonviolent action and Biblical passages such as Romans 13, which he had often heard cited as reason to obey political leaders.

“But there are criteria for what kind of leaders we are supposed to obey,” he said. “Those leaders should be the leaders who pursue justice, who are able and willing to respond to people’s needs. As long as leaders do not pursue justice, I’m ready to protest and resist any kind of unjust law. And if a leader is pursuing justice, I will surely obey.”

Calling to return

A significant part of his calling, Nyiringabo said, is simply to return to his country.

The time at CJP, away from the conflicts and dangers of the DRC, means he has space to think, to prepare for his eventual return to his work. He feels safe in Harrisonburg – but “part of me is back in Congo,” he said. He communicates with his family daily to see whether they are doing well, including throughout the current electoral process during which several types of violence have occurred.

“Most people who come here don’t want to go back,” he said. “If you are living in this environment where there is almost no physical violence every day, and you enjoy life for two years in this city, and you are requested to go back to Goma, where you sleep without having hope that you will wake up, where you are drinking water without being sure it’s clean, where you are traveling without being sure you will arrive at the destination, it’s really a challenge. It’s really something that can show that you love your country.”

But young people are needed “to transform our communities,” he said. “My passion is to raise a generation of young peacebuilders. We have a generation of violent young people in rebel groups; I am looking forward to having a generation of young peacebuilders. Like a sickness takes time to lead to crisis, the existing unjust systems in our community took time to build up; so a generation of peacebuilders needs time to dismantle violent systems and lay foundations for sustainable peacebuilding.”

Nyiringabo would have preferred to be a civil engineer, or maybe a soccer player or pilot. But peacebuilding has become his calling – his lifestyle, he said – and he is devoted to working for peace with hope that for the DRC, “tomorrow will be better than today.”

At present, more thanĚý$31,000 has been raised towards the $100,000 goal, and $3,675 of this is from the M.J. Sharp Crowdfunding campaign, which has a goal of $15,000 by May 6.

With a major goal to help those carrying on Sharp’s work in Africa, an inaugural award has been made to a Congelese peacebuilder who will begin his graduate studies at EMU’s Ěý(CJP) in fall 2018.

“In the 12 months since losing M.J., his friends and family and the EMU community, joined by those who did not know him but have been inspired by the gifts of his life and work, have stepped forward to honor his legacy,” said Lindsay Martin, associate director of development for CJP. “The Michael J. Sharp Peace and Justice Endowed Scholarship Fund continues to grow with each month, and we’re so pleased that we can offer this inaugural scholarship to an experienced peacebuilder who shares M.J.’s vision for peace in the DRC.”

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Read a March article from The Mennonite:

The first recipient of this scholarship, David Nyiringabo Mazimpaka, is from the eastern part of the DRC, and works as assistant coordinator at Congo Peace Network and deputy coordinator of the Great Lakes Christian PeaceBuilders Network. His goals are to raise awareness of conflict dynamics in the DRC and to empower and mentor the next generation of young peacebuilders in nonviolence and conflict transformation.

“What joy to see funds awarded so soon!” said John Sharp, M.J.’s father and a professor at Hesston College. “This is deeply satisfying to us and would be a delight for M.J. Our profound thanks to all who are making this possible.”

A life dedicated to peace

A UN expert on armed groups,Ěý Michael J. Sharp was on his way to meet with leaders of a new militia group in central DRC when he was ambushed. With colleague Zaida CatalĂĄn, he was seeking to better understand the militia’s structure, support networks, recruitment and use of child soldiers, and use of magic. The two were murdered by unknown assailants, and the investigation into their deaths continues today.

Prior to this work, Sharp, a 2005 graduate of EMU, was with a repatriation program in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that returned more than 1,600 combatants and 23,000 civilians to Rwanda and helped facilitate four public disarmaments of FDLR fighters.

Soon after his death, Sharp’s friends and family decided to honor his memory through the Michael J. Sharp Peace and Justice Endowed Scholarship Fund. The fully funded endowment will provide an annual $5,000 scholarship for a graduate student studying conflict transformation and restorative justice at CJP.

CJP has more than 615 alumni in 78 countries around the world, applying the skills in conflict analysis, inclusive decision-making, reconciling relationships, acknowledging and healing past harms, and promoting a restorative approach to issues of justice.

Scholarship supports ‘new wave of peacebuilders’

Longtime friend Keith Grubaugh was an early supporter of the endowed scholarship fund. He traveled from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for the October 2017 Homecoming and Family Weekend to be with Sharp’s parents as they accepted the on M.J.’s behalf.

While on campus, he met CJP graduate students and spoke of his support for the peacebuilding program.

“Meeting these students and learning about this program is what has motivated me to give as I can, as often as I can,” he said. “I believe we are all called to do our parts in making a difference in the lives of those around us and I believe that is exactly what we are doing when we support this scholarship. We are helping to prepare a new wave of peacemakers that will come to EMU to learn the skills they need to go back out into the world and pick up the torch that my dear friend was carrying in his own special way.”

Read more

• The day Kevin Ressler ’07 arrived on campus to meet with EMU classes and to speak in chapel was the day after he heard of the death of his friend, Michael J. “M.J.” Sharp ’05. His sermon was a powerful remembrance.ĚýRead the text or listen to a podcast.
• Listen to a podcast of John and Michelle Sharp speak about M.J.’s life and work at 2017 Homecoming and Family Weekend.
• An April 2017 article by Mennonite Central Committee shares more about M.J.’s work with their organization.

In a today [Wednesday, March 29], fellow alumnus Kevin Ressler memorialized his friend as “a man who chose to go into dangerous places without a weapon to make safer communities for strangers, for people he did not know.”

Sharp worked for the United Nations and was investigating human rights abuses in the Central Kasai region at the time of his kidnapping, with five others, in mid-March. He had previously worked for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) as Eastern Congo coordinator.

“Many peacebuilders live with the keen awareness that their work involves taking risks,” said Daryl Byler, executive director of EMU’s (CJP). “In this tight-knit community, we grieve the loss of every peacebuilder, whether they were trained at CJP or, as in Michael’s case, came to peacebuilding as a natural outgrowth of his faith, his Anabaptist education and his passion for social justice.”

EMU hosts a formal service of remembrance Saturday, April 29, from 5:45-6:30 p.m. in Martin Chapel during Commencement Weekend.

Prayer gatherings today

Gatherings were held in Martin Chapel at noon and mid-afternoon, offering a space for alumni, faculty, staff and students to grieve and pray for Sharp, his family, friends and those involved in the violence, as well as the Congolese people who have suffered in a decades-long conflict.

The noon circle included reflections about Sharp offered by those who knew him well and those who were close to his family or Sharp’s former co-workers with MCC. Others who did not know him came to the space to grieve, touched by his life, his choices, his faith and his untimely death.

A service later this spring on campus is being planned, said Campus Pastor Brian Martin Burkholder.

A man of strong convictions and faith

A 2005 graduate who earned a degree in history and minored in German, Sharp “sought justice” in his academic work and his reporting for the student newspaper, said Professor Mark Sawin. “He was a model EMU student and a model human being. The world is a better place because he lived the kind of life that led to his death.”

Prior to his UN work, Sharp served with MCC, partnering with the Congolese Prostestant Council of Churches’ peace and reconciliation program to convince rebel fighters to put away their arms and go home. The risks were clearly apparent, as Sharp shared in a January with NPR when he described walking unarmed into the camps of rebels to drink tea and listen to stories of men away from home for years at time.

He shared a guiding question with in 2013: “If Jesus’ example is for everyone everywhere, what does that look like in eastern Congo, where war has been the norm for 20 years?”

While his son was still missing, his father John Sharp acknowledged the risk of the work his son was involved in. “I have said on more than one occasion that we peacemakers should be willing to risk our lives as those who join the military do. Now it’s no longer theory,” he told on March 20. Sharp, a history professor at Hesston College in Hesston, Kansas, has written extensively on Anabaptist history and witness.

Tributes to ‘M.J.’

From Kevin Ressler ‘07

ĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚý Kevin Ressler, a friend of MJ Sharp’s, was scheduled to visit EMU to speak to classes and give a chapel long before the death of his friend was announced. Ressler’s sermon turned into a powerful eulogy and a call to action.

ĚýThe word of God, to me, is not dried ink on parchment. It is the opportunity to participate in divinity: To take your skin and the sinews that hold your bones together, to walk into the dangerous places, to take on the mantel of justice, to put yourself in a place where you may lose your life so that someone else may live.

Read his or listen to a .

From high school friend Tim Nafziger

ĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚý Read a poem (“expandable” as memories are shared, writes the poet) about MJ Sharp titled “.”

From friend Ben Wideman ’04

Ben Wideman’s is published in The Mennonite:

Even back in college it was clear that MJ would be a person who would head out to save the world, creatively working at global solutions wherever he could and in whatever space he found himself. …His wit, wisdom, and humor were a gift to those who knew him well, and even though we only connected for a short time it feels like a gift to have those moments.

From his Albuquerque community

A March 28 article shares thoughts from the Mennonite community where Sharp was beginning to put down roots.

“He really wanted us to see [the Congo] better, but at the same time had to hold a lot back because, I think, he saw things that were so horrible and terrible and he didn’t want to bring everyone down about it. To be on a U.N. panel of experts at 34 is pretty remarkable. He had this real gift. He was really smart,” friend and neighbor Andrew Clouse said.

From the Congolese community of Harrisonburg, Va.

Jacques Mushagasha, president of the Harrisonburg Congolese community and a 2016 graduate of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding offered his condolences:

It is with deep sadness that we have learned that Michael J. Sharp, his U.N. colleague Zaida Catalan, and Congolese interpreter Betu Tshintela have been killed by their kidnappers. On behalf of the Congolese community of Harrisonburg and on my own behalf, I would like to present my condolencesĚý to his family as well as to the entire EMU community. May the God Lord of peace and grace comfort all of us. M.J. died doing what he believed in, uncovering the truth as a means to foster justice and peacebuilding, May his sense of purpose inspire us all.

From the Congolese American Council for Peace and Development, Silver Spring, Maryland

Congolese native , a 2000 graduate of EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding and head of the Congolese American Council for Peace and Development, had been in contact with those in the Congo working on Sharp’s behalf.

On behalf of the Congolese diaspora community in the United States that I represent, I am saddened this news. Michael took a most perilous mission to investigate the ongoing killings, showing deep respect for the dignity of humankind and the women and children of Central Congo. His work in the Congo is a legacy of who we are as human beings, as Mennonites and Christian disciples.

More coverage

The family is Wednesday, March 29, by KAKE, an ABC affiliate in Kansas.

Read about MJ’s life and work in and the .

Listen to Charlottesville-based pastor and former MCC employee Roy Hange interviewed March 29, 2017 on WINA 1070 radio station in Charlottesville on Update: MEMORIAL SERVICES

EMU hosts a formal service of remembrance Saturday, April 29, from 5:45-6:30 p.m. in Martin Chapel during Commencement Weekend.

See below for a link to the April 15 service in Hesston, Kansas.

EMU grad MJ Sharp at chapel on Wednesday. Photo by Jim Bishop

When M.J. Sharp graduated from EMU in 2005, his conscientious objection to war was “merely academic.”

But over the last two years, all that has changed, he said.

Since leaving the Friendly City, Sharp has worked as a counselor with the Military Counseling Network in Heidelberg, Germany. When soldiers question their desire to fight, they call Sharp and his crew to talk about it.

The work, he said, has made war “personal” to him, and has helped him understand and embrace his faith’s pacifist views.

“Every time I hear about the realities of war and how [the soldiers] experience it, my objection is not so much academic any more,” Sharp said. “It’s not just a theological argument. It’s real.”

On Wednesday, Sharp, now 25, returned to EMU to make the first of dozens of planned stops across America where he will share his work experiences. For the next seven weeks, Sharp will visit schools and churches – many of them Mennonite – to raise money for the network and also to help build the bridge between “Peace People” and “War People.”

“When we hear the stories and when we see the faces of soldiers, we might actually start to feel something,” he said. “We might decide we want to do more than just talk about it.”

The Stories

On Wednesday, Sharp told the 150-member audience stories from two of his clients.

The first was a story about a 23-year-old soldier, Sharp’s first client on the job.

The young man was working two jobs and taking classes at his local community college. One day, a military recruiter approached him, offering $40,000 for college. Short on cash, the man took the offer and joined the U.S. Army.

Then, while serving in the Middle East, the soldier had to kill someone, Sharp said.

“Killing someone is a personal thing,” Sharp said the soldier told him. “You have to live with it afterwards. And you don’t do it for college money.”

Sharp’s second story was similar.

This man, a 20-year-old soldier who also served in Iraq, came to Sharp to talk about the first time he saw a dead civilian, who had been run over by a tank. The soldier also talked about the first time he killed someone.

“It was personal to him,” Sharp said. “Despite his training, he wasn’t able to make it nonpersonal. He knew he was done [serving in the military].”

“War has the power to transform,” Sharp said. “It doesn’t matter if you are in the military or not, doesn’t matter if you’re Mennonite or not. War has the power to transform you.”

Audience Reaction

Several audience members commented they liked hearing Sharp’s perspective.

“I appreciated learning about how war is a personal thing and how violence affects people,” said Lars Akerson, a 21-year-old EMU senior.

Luke Drescher, 72, of Harrisonburg, said Sharp’s presented the faith’s nonresistant pacifism well.

“The military finds the Mennonites unpatriotic and the Mennonites find the military ungodly,” said Katie Zook, a 19-year-old freshman, who says she is not a Mennonite. “I liked how he talked about a great middle ground of working with the military. Jesus himself worked with the military.”

When members of the US military are lonely, uncertain of their legal rights or ask whether they can in fact march into war, where do they turn? One recourse – the Military Counseling Network (MCN) based in several locations in Germany.

MCN representatives MJ Sharp and Tim Huber will share stories from working with U.S. service members 10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20, in Lehman Auditorium at EMU.

MCN representative MJ Sharp, a 2005 EMU graduate

The duo will also give an informal presentation and answer questions 9 p.m. that evening at the Common Grounds Coffeehouse in the University Commons.

MCN is a non-military network of organizations that provides free counseling service those soldiers who are questioning going to war or want to know more about military discharges and regulations.

The group has counselors located in different regions throughout Germany who respond to questions, provide guidance and supply legal information.

Director/Head Counselor Michael Sharp has been working at MCN since the summer of 2005 and brings an interest in law and experience with web design to the office. He is a 2005 EMU graduate.

Office Manager/Counselor Tim Huber started at MCN in July of 2006 after working as a journalist at a daily newspaper in Kansas. He graduated from Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kan., in 2004 with a major in communications.

The program is open to everyone at no admission charge.