NACOGDOCHES, Texas (ABP) — Helping a church become a peaceable fellowship is a never-ending battle, Kyle Childress acknowledged. But as Christians “wage peace” in church, they learn skills that help them build bridges in a divided world, he added.
“It's a round-the-clock, long-term thing,” said Childress, pastor of Austin Heights Baptist Church in Nacogdoches, Texas. “In the 17 years I've been here, one of the major challenges I consistently have had is helping people learn and practice reconciliation with one another.”
According to advocates around the country, peacemaking skills don't come naturally. As any church leader who has led a group through conflict knows, reconciliation must be learned.
“A lot of people don't know how to do that,” Childress said. “It's hard. I spend a lot of time taking people by the hand — almost literally — and telling them, ‘We're going to see so-and-so and work this thing out.'”
Childress views peacemaking and reconciliation within a church as essential — particularly in a small church in a town where “everybody sees one another all the time.”
“In the body of Christ, we are connected,” the pastor said. “So when there's conflict, the body is broken. Because we're connected in the church, when we're broken, it affects the whole congregation.”
Christians can learn to be peacemakers beyond their own congregations the same way — by investing the necessary time and energy to build relationships that bridge dividing lines, Childress said.
For instance, he and other members of his church have had “some frank conversations” about delicate subjects with members of an African-American church in their town. But that's because Austin Heights has built a relationship with that congregation over 30 years, conducting vacation Bible school together and developing friendships, he added.
“Probably some of the biggest divisions in communities today are the divisions of class and economics. The only way to overcome those divisions is to be a congregation that actually works with people who are in poverty,” Childress said. “Building relationships is key to overcoming barriers.”
Unfortunately, many people consider themselves too busy to invest the time necessary to build relationships in which people deal with tough issues, he noted.
“It takes time and patience,” he said. “It's hard.”
Jon Singletary, director of the Center for Family and Community Ministries at Baylor University, agrees. “Peacemaking is costly,” he said. “It demands our life and our all.”
Singletary gained firsthand experience in church-based community peacemaking while working on his doctorate in Richmond, Va.
“I was a member of a Baptist church there, but I was called by a Mennonite church, initially as a supply preacher,” he said. “That developed into an interim position, and then I ended up as a Baptist in a Mennonite pastorate for four years.”
With the Mennonite's strong Anabaptist tradition of nonviolence, Singletary found himself leading a congregation ready to initiate peacemaking initiatives in its community.
The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the United States' military response, influenced the initiative, but it also included issues like family violence.
“We invited churches to enter into a citywide dialogue about these issues,” he said. “We helped church leaders spend some time taking a look at these things, going back to the basis for shalom and what it means in our nation, the community and in families.”
Evelyn Hanneman, interim coordinating director for the Baptist Peace Fellowship, said her group also focuses on the message of shalom, which is the Hebrew word for peace. It also has connotations of justice, health and safety — all important aspects in creating true peace.
Based in Charlotte, N.C., Baptist Peace Fellowship has 80 partner congregations across the country in which working for peace and justice is a major focus of ministry. The Fellowship provides resources to facilitate that effort.
Even with all that support, disagreements about the implications of peacemaking can also lead to conflict, particularly when people's primary identity is tied up in their national pride or political party, said Childress, the Texas pastor.
And the starting place for Christian discussion of issues related to peace should not be what a political leader says, he added. “The first place we start should be by asking what Jesus … says, and then work from there,” he said. “The good news is that in the body of Christ, when we are committed to each other over the long haul and we share that commitment to Jesus, we don't have to solve it all today.”
In the end, creating a culture of peace in a church can't be rushed or coerced, experts agree. Childress said life-changing ministry often takes place over a long time over cups of coffee and long conversations rather than a single sermon, he noted.
“You can't force it. That's opposed to the very idea of building a people who are peaceable,” he said.
Hanneman knows that attitude of grace — and justice — must be present for building true peace. She said local congregations can work toward peace in their own neighborhoods by providing food banks, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and counseling.
The goal? Churches should be known as peacemakers, Hanneman said.
“I guess I would say that we are called to be followers of Jesus, and where Jesus leads us is to the margins of society where the [most] justice needs to be done,” Hanneman said. “And when you're doing justice, you'll find peace.”
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— Hannah Elliott contributed to this story.