wfn.org | Historic Peace Churches plan Asia peace consultation

[COBNews@aol.com]

Date: Dec. 12, 2005
Contact: Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
V: 847/742-5100  F: 847/742-6103
E-MAIL: _CoBNews@AOL.Com_ (mailto:CoBNews@AOL.Com) 
 

HISTORIC PEACE CHURCHES PLAN ASIA CONSULTATION
 
Dec. 12, 2005 (Elgin, IL) --  Fourteen members of the Historic Peace  
Churches (Church of the Brethren, Quakers, and Mennonites) met in Indonesia
Dec.  5-9 
to consider holding 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

program of the World Council of Churches (WCC), an invitation  came from the 
WCC Central Committee in 1999 for the Historic Peace Churches to  share their

insights and experience with the wider Christian church as a  component of
the 
Decade to Overcome Violence. An Asian conference would be the  third such 
international Historic Peace Church conference responding to this 
invitation.

The proposed Asian consultation would follow two  previous international 
Historic Peach Church meetings. 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 Indonesian planning meeting  considered a 
consultation for Asian churches, with a focus on peacemaking within 
interreligious 
communities.

An ad-hoc committee was appointed to  carry forward the idea of an Asian 
conference. The committee is considering  hosting the consultation in
December 
2007. Information regarding this conference  and the previous Historic Peace 
Church conferences may be found at _www.peacetheology.org_ 
(http://www.peacetheology.org) .

Representing  the Church of the Brethren at the meeting in Indonesia were 
Scott Holland, of  Bethany Theological Seminary; Donald E. Miller, Asian 
consultation convener;	Mervin Keeney, executive director of Global Mission 
Partnerships for the Church  of the Brethren General Board; Stanley
Noffsinger, general 
secretary of the  Church of the Brethren General Board; and Darryl R. Sankey 
of the Church of the  Brethren-India.
 
The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to  
continuing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its
faith  in 
community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith  
traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrates its
 300th 
anniversary in 2008. It counts about 130,000 members across the United	
States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Brazil, the  
Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nigeria.
 
# # #
 
For more information contact:
 
Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
Director of News Services
Church of the  Brethren General Board
1451 Dundee Ave.
Elgin, IL 60120
847-742-5100  ext. 260
_cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org_ 
(mailto:cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org) 
 
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