Peace Partners Initiative

by Gary Commins

With the leadership of our Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, the EPF is launching a Peace Partners Initiative that will play a critical role in our future success. The Peace Partners Initiative invites individuals, parishes, dioceses, and institutions to become our active peace partners.

Three years ago, Passion for Peace was our first development campaign in 65 years. It enabled us to expand nonviolence work into underserved communities, organize regional and ecumenical events to protest the war in Iraq, revolutionize our communications, have our strongest presence ever at General Convention, and launch new efforts with young adults.

In the next three years, the Peace Partners initiative will enable the EPF to build on its recent success and help it to:

• Create a national network of congregations within the Episcopal Church
• Continue to take a lead in regional and ecumenical anti-war actions
• Provide liturgical and educational resources to local congregations
• Provide support for local organizing and action
• Expand access to nonviolence training
• Expand its impact within the Episcopal Church
• Nurture new generations of peacemakers

Individuals, parishes, dioceses, and institutions can become Peace Partners by making a three-year financial commitment to the EPF. If you have any questions about what it would mean for you, your parish, diocese, or institution to become a peace partner, please contact Jackie Lynn, EPF Executive Director at 312-922-8628.

The success of EPF’s new Strategic Plan will depend on many things. Our National Executive Council has taken the first steps by reorganizing itself to undertake the work we have envisioned. We will be seeking greater participation from our members in our new national network of congregations, in Action Groups, in local and regional events, and in becoming a more active part of our leadership. And we will need many strong and active Peace Partners throughout the Church.

Our Presiding Bishop invites you all to join her “in taking a stand against violence and for the new earth Christ came to inaugurate.” We hope that you will become our Peace Partners.

Gary Commins is the Chair of the National Executive Council, Rector of St. Luke’s Church in Long Beach, California, Deputy to General Convention, and author of Becoming Bridges: The Spirit and Practice of Diversity.