wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Conference to explore North American responses to war

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>World Council of Churches - News

CONFERENCE TO EXPLORE CONTEMPORARY NORTH AMERICAN RESPONSES TO WAR

>For immediate release: 22 June 2010

The Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana (USA)
will host an ecumenical peace conference 28-31 July 2010, focusing  on
contemporary North American responses to war.

Christian peacemakers of all traditions and disciplines are expected  to
attend the "Peace Among the Peoples" conference, aimed at reinvigorating
the churches’ conversation on war and peace. The event is  a preparatory
meeting for the World Council of Churches’ 2011 International  Ecumenical
Peace Convocation (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=6fff583594cfa5b30cf5 ).

"Peace Among the Peoples represents the culmination of recent ecumenical
peace efforts. This important discussion will help shape the future  of the
churches’ peace witness in North America", says Michael  Kinnamon,
general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ  in the USA
(NCCCUSA), who will participate at the event.

In large and small group settings, participants will dream, discern  and
strategize next steps for creating a more unified peace witness  in North
America as well as encouraging churches to become “peace  churches”.
Results of the meeting will be presented at the NCCCUSA General  Assembly
in November 2010 and at the 2011 Peace Convocation in Kingston,  Jamaica.

The event will include presentations from leading thinkers, such  as Stanley
Hauerwas, Rita Nakashima Brock and Brian McLaren. Discussions on  the
contemporary issues of just policing, responsibility to protect,  nuclear
weapons and chaplaincy will include dynamic exchanges between presenters
and listeners.

There will also be deliberative working sessions on current ecumenical
efforts, like the Truth Commission on Conscience in War, the status  of
conciliar peace dialogue and the formation of a North American Ecumenical
Peace Center.

Morning prayer and evening confessional worship will frame the beginning
and the ending of each day. Preachers include Matthew Johnson, Mary  Jo
Leddy and Leonid Kishkovsky.

Disciplinary groups - academics, activists, clergy and peace fellowships  -
as well as interdisciplinary groups will be given opportunities  to meet
during meal times. These conversations will seek to promote collaboration
among disciplines by assessing the interests and needs of each group.

Conference registration is now open. Additional information:
www.peace2010.net (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=3cb8e7 
b6f2c75be4d9de )

International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=093106007ed0542da344 )

Decade to Overcome Violence 2001 - 2010: Churches Seeking Reconciliation
and Peace (DOV) (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=4b0f7a4f 
cd8399158247 )

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,  witness and 
service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship  of churches 
founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant,
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560  million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the  Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse  Tveit, from 
the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.