Church leaders and communities facing situations of violence in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and New Orleans will share their experiences with an international ecumenical team visiting the United States from 15-23 September.
Being from South Africa, Lebanon, Pakistan and Brazil the team members will express the solidarity of churches worldwide with the US churches while learning from their peacemaking efforts concerning urban and gun violence as well as environmental racism and the Iraq war.
The visit of the group, which is called “Living Letters,” is part of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Decade to Overcome Violence (2001-2010), an initiative promoting peaceful alternatives to violence.
Members of the team are a church leader, a public health specialist, a theologian and a human rights lawyer, each of them bringing personal experiences of violence and peacemaking from their societies.
“The purpose of these Living Letters visits is to create real encounters through which churches worldwide become increasingly aware of their struggles and hopes and are able to encourage and strengthen each other,” says Rev. Dr Bernice Powell Jackson, a minister of the United Church of Christ (US) and the WCC president from the North American region.
Rev. Dr William Shaw, president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. said: “Peacemaking and reconciliation includes building stronger relationships within and outside of the churches and the United States that are responsive to the changing dynamic landscape of Christendom and the unrelenting violence in our world.
