When I recently arrived in South Africa at the end of January to join my husband for a few months while he is on a temporary deployment with his job for USAID, I wondered how I would spend my time - what I would learn and whom I would learn it from. One thing I knew almost the first day I arrived is that I wanted to learn more about the concept of Ubuntu.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked significant reflection and questions about the merits of nonviolent civil resistance in the face of massive violence, injustice, and war. Is nonviolent action a viable response when tanks are rolling in or authoritarian rulers threaten people with prison for speaking out? Is it possible to combine nonviolent action with armed resistance? Questions like these are playing out before our eyes as Ukrainians heroically defend their land against Russian aggression using both armed and nonviolent resistance strategies. For those who follow Jesus, many are asking themselves, what is a faithful response?

We talk about “shalom” a lot, and it’s a driving force behind what we do and why. It’s also one of our core values as an organization, so we got our staff together and wrote this post to articulate the centrality of the biblical concept of shalom in how we understand God’s work in the world and our calling as Christians.

Christians often think peacemaking work between religious groups requires setting the bar really low in terms of the results we hope for. “Peace” must just mean getting along at some basic level, being able to have nice conversations, and not offending people from other groups. But that’s not the case. So what is peacemaking really?

The news has been full of debate about what it means to be a good citizen and leader. Accusations of racism and nationalism are leveled against some, while accusations of hating America are leveled against others. 

We rejoice that conflict resolution and peacemaking have become major fields of study in colleges and universities. We have learned much from secular research and will continue to engage with scholars and practitioners in this field. Nevertheless, we are Jesus-centered in our approach. Here are five truths that define what Jesus-centered peacemaking means to us.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9) AND “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). How do we reconcile these two famous peace passages?

We often hear statements like this: “You shouldn’t work for peace, because the Bible teaches that there will never truly be peace on this earth (particularly in the Middle East). What you are trying to do is futile according to Scripture.” Here’s our response to that idea.

We get asked a lot of the same questions over and over again. The wording may be different, but the concerns remain the same, so we're writing a number of blogs addressing some of our Frequently Asked Questions. Today we address the question of evangelism and how it relates to the work of peacemaking.