Peacemaking means more than simply being against violence. According to the Bible, peace is connected with justice.

"...justice will be done" and thus "there will be peace and security forever." - Isaiah 32:17

Peacemaking involves every area of our lives: personal (with God), interpersonal (between individuals), and social (between groups).

And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? - Micah 6:8.

So, are you a peacemaker?

If so, you may need help, some encouragement, news about other Baptist peacemakers and practical ideas for turning your peacemaking dreams into concrete deeds.

We can provide that help.

Want traveling companions?

As a member of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America you will receive information and support for your own peacemaking journey. In addition, you will:

• be linked with Baptists across North America - from more than a dozen Baptist conventions, crossing many racial/ethnic boundaries, throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Mexico;


• keep in touch with news about other Baptists - individuals, local congregations, convention bodies - and their peacemaking involvements;

• have access through our publications to personal stories, Bible study and worship resources, reporting on trouble spots in North America and abroad, and theological reflection;

• be informed of various gatherings of Baptist peacemakers, of unique educational opportunities, of BPFNA "friendship tours" - trips which introduce North American Baptists to Baptist peacemakers in places like Russia, Croatia, Burma (Myanmar), Nicaragua and South Africa.

• receive a constant flow of creative and practical ideas for what you can do right where you are - ideas and resources that help you and others in your congregation move beyond general concern to direct involvement in ministry...from being merely "convinced" to being convictedabout following Jesus.

• find modern electronic communication through our website with take-action ideas, news & events, listserv, resource catalog, .pdf documents available for printing and sharing with others, among many other things!

We believe...

• . . . that peacemaking is first and foremost an issue of spirituality. Believers are "saved" for the world,not from it. We believe in Jesus, God's unilateral disarming initiative toward us; and from that encounter we respond in kind.

• . . . in the power of God's grace, which allows us to forsake our self-centered ways and live for the sake of our neighbors, especially those who are weak, victimized, or poor --all those for whom the world has little use.

• . . . that peace is the will of God. We take the Bible at its word when it says that peacemakers are "blessed" (Matthew 5); that one day lion and lamb will lie together (Isaiah 11); that creation itself will be redeemed (Romans 8); and that on that day all tears will be dried and death itself will be defeated (Revelation 22).

• . . . that peace, like war, is waged. Peacemaking is an active enterprise, not a passive posture. Scripture commands us to "seek peace, and pursue it" (Psalm 34:14, 1 Peter 3:11).

• . . . that all must discern their own way. Being Baptists, we do not expect or require conformity to a particular political platform; but we share the conviction that discipleship means being redemptively involved in the world's pain at some cost to ourselves.