Peace Churches plan Asian consultation in 2007

Jakarta – Representatives of the Historic Peace Churches (Church of the Brethren, Quakers, and Mennonites) met in Indonesia recently to consider organizing an Asian peace consultation in 2007. Participants in the meeting came from Indonesia, India, Japan, Australia, and the United States.

Following the launching of the Decade to Overcome Violence, an international programme of the World Council of Churches (WCC), an invitation came from the WCC Central Committee in 1999 for the Historic Peace Churches (Christian pacifists) to share their insights and experience with the wider church as a component of the Decade.

The Asian peace consultation would be the third such gathering for the peace churches. In 2001, a consultation was held in Switzerland focusing on "Peace in a Globalized World."

A second meeting took place in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2004, with emphasis on "Making Peace Theology Relevant to the Conflicts in Africa."

The proposed consultation for Asian churches would most likely focus on peacemaking among inter–religious communities.

An ad–hoc committee was appointed to carry forward the idea of the Asian Conference towards 2007. Information on this event and previous Historic Peace Church gatherings may be found at www.peacetheology.org.

The peace churches are the primary sponsors of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), who have come to prominence through the tragic kidnapping of four of their associates in Iraq on 26 November 2005.