Every Church a Peace Church

When the professor leading Kape Theo (coffee & theology), a bi-monthly theology forum at Asian Theological Seminary, asked Darnell what our title would be for our presentation, he teased us saying, “Oh yes, that’s a great way to church plant- every church should just be called Peace Church too!” Of course that wasn’t exactly what we were thinking :)

Earlier this month we had a full day visioning meeting with our Peach Church core group. We developed our core values and made some plans and goals for the next year. I mention this because one of our core values is Serving the Body of Christ- We are called to be a witness to the church, to spread God’s message of peace and reconciliation and to encourage the Body of Christ to relevantly engage society. So speaking to this group of students, professors and pastors is exactly that! 

Because this group is predominantly male, we made a point of having Reg and I be the speakers- and we let Darnell share too :) I discussed the centrality of Jesus and what he taught in regards to non-violence and love for all people. I also shared about my Opa and played his latest youtube video! Reg shared about the Early Church and fringe Peace Churches throughout history, including the Anabaptists. And Darnell talked about the mission of the Church from the Old Testament and New Testament and the inseparable relationship between the gospel, peace, salvation and the Kingdom of God.

The many questions that followed mostly surrounded how to love the unlovable and the implications of non-violence on governments and world conflicts. It seemed that people agreed with what we shared but were sort of stuck on how it looks practically. So we discussed and gave examples of radical, third-way, non-violent love in action. Kuya Dann Pantoja also showed up (was visiting from Davao) so he shared from his years of field experience too.

We are hoping and praying that more churches will embrace Jesus’ radical teaching about non-violence and unbiased love for ALL people and find creative ways to live this message. Every Church a Peace Church- wouldn't that be something! On that note, I’ll leave you with words from a wise, well-loved man of peace, my Opa.