Christian Peacemaker Teams calls for full-time peacemakers
Most of you will be familar with Christian Peacemaking Teams working around the world. It’s something you can get involved in.
Below is an email from Christian Peacemaker Teams calling for people to join as full-time peacemakers. See their website for more information
11 April 2006
CHICAGO/TORONTO: Christian Peacemaker Teams issues call for more peacemakers
While the world has come to know of our organization because of the hostage crisis and death of Tom Fox, our violence-deterring, human rights promoting work goes on in the Americas and Middle East. We continue to experience shortage of full time workers willing to commit to three years of service.
We are therefore calling on mature Christians with a sacrificial commitment to peacemaking to consider joining our ranks.
If we had more personnel, we could expand our work in some of the following ways:
COLOMBIA CPT-Colombia has focussed on accompanying rural populations
in their struggle to stay on their land. With more fulltimers, the Colombia team could respond to more of the mobile team requests it receives to accompany grassroots peacebuilding initiatives across Colombia. The armed conflict has displaced over three million Colombians, most of them farmers, and many people are asking for the kind of accompaniment CPT provides.
IRAQ With more personnel, CPT could better support the work of the Muslim Peacemaker Teams, which currently has chapters in Kerbala and Najaf. Team members could do more traveling and report better on what is happening outside of Baghdad.
KENORA, ON Due to the personnel shortage, CPT has had to cut the anti-racism work of the team in Kenora to two eight-week segments a year. If the team had more trained personnel, CPT could better maintain relationships with those challenging the racism in this Northern Ontario town.
U.S./MEXICO BORDERLANDS With more personnel, CPT could expand its presence to border communities beyond Douglas, AZ and provide year round patrols that would help prevent migrant deaths in the desert. Extra fulltimers would also enable CPT to develop a campaign of nonviolent resistance to further militarization of the border.
WEST BANK The team based in the village of Tuwani accompanies shepherds and schoolchildren at risk of attack by Israeli soldiers and settlers. Additional full time workers would enable CPT could expand its presence into other remote and vulnerable areas of the South Hebron hills.
In the West Bank city of Hebron–CPT’s longest running project– more fulltimers would allow the team to increase its street presence around Israeli checkpoints and in Hebron’s Old City from the hours when children go to and from school to the entire day. More fulltimers would also enable the team to visit more often with families facing particular
challenges from the occupation.
“The harvest is great, but the laborers are few” (Matthew 9:37.) If you count the cost and believe that God is calling you to this work, know that you will be joining a Cloud of Witnesses–from the early Christian martyrs to our brother Tom Fox–who believed Jesus meant what he said about confronting evil, loving enemies and caring for the “least of these.”
Facebook comments: