Mission
Founded in the 1930s by leaders in the Church of God, the Peace Fellowship is an international community committed to Christ’s ministry of reconciliation, following the clear New Testament teaching to love God and neighbour, to eliminate racism and violence, and to realize the biblical vision of shalom for all God’s creation.
Vision
According to Jesus, peacemaking is the family business of the children of God. He calls us to radical acts of reconciliation and peacemaking. We must begin in our own hearts, homes, and neighborhoods. Will we hear the wake up call to the reality of the violence that assaults us from without and from within? Instead of saying "God Bless America," let's say, "God, bless your world through us!"
Actvities
Prayer Vigils are promoted throughout the year.
Conferences are held during the North American Convention in June. Some PF Conferences have been co-sponsored by the Commission on Social Concerns, Board of Christian Education, or Women of the Church of God. A list of noted Conference leaders includes John Howard Yoder, Tom Sine, Samuel G. and Dalineta Hines, David S. Burgess (UNICEF), Myron Augsburger, Ronald J. Sider, Curtiss DeYoung, and Doug Hostetter.
The quarterly PF Newsletter is a vital link between all PF members, libraries on five college campuses, Religious Peace Fellowships, and other interested persons. Recent issues featured Opposition to War Against Iraq, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Creation Care, Racial Reconciliation, Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Abolition of the Death Penalty, Gun Control, the UN Decade for Nonviolence, Habitat for Humanity, and Anderson University Peacemakers in Northern Ireland and Colombia.
Fulfilling the dream of a Peace Studies Program at Anderson University, PF members made initial contributions for an endowment in April 1997. Conversations with AU President James Edwards and Vice President Carl Caldwell led to the establishment of the "Mack and Irene Caldwell Peacemaking Fund" in honor of lifelong peacemakers who taught at Anderson and on other campuses. Dr. Ken Brown, Director of Manchester College Peace Studies, provided invaluable counsel in setting up the endowment. By December 2002, according to Senior Vice President Ron Moore, the total amount received surpassed $305,000. The goal for 2003 was to reach $400,000. An exciting incentive for the Peace Fellowship was the matching of gifts by the Lilly Foundation. Currently, the PACT endowment has achieved its goal of $1,000,000!
Professors Sharon Collins and Willi Kant were the first successful coordinators of Anderson University's PACT (Peace and Conflict Transformation) program. The first PACT director was Shane Kirkpatrick, Associate Professor of Religion at Anderson University. The program is being directed currently by Dr. Marian Osborne Berky, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Anderson University. The first course offered in the PACT program was "Living Peacefully in a Violent World." Chapel speakers, seminars, prayer vigils, and special events are planned each semester.
SPI (Student Peace Initiative) meets weekly, and networks with groups on other campuses, such as Manchester College, Earlham, and Ball State University. They have recently begun producing a newsletter to voice student concerns on the Anderson University campus and in the world at large.
