Newsletters

Date: March 24th 2010

From Rick

Friends,

During Holy Week, I will be traveling to Barranquilla, Colombia with a delegation of folks who have been Human Rights Accompaniers over the last five years, since the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship first partnered with the Presbyterian Church of Colombia and the PC(USA). Since the fall of 2004, the PPF has trained more than 100 volunteers, well over fifty of whom have deployed for a month or more of volunteer service. It is impossible to judge the economic value of that volunteer witness, but the payoff in terms of deep and trusting relationships has been unbelievably rich. You can read the stories of many of those accompaniers here.

For the past six months we've been carrying out a careful evaluation of the accompaniment program. That evaluation will culminate in our trip to Barranquilla to meet with our partners for theological reflection and celebration of our work together thus far. We'll visit many of the places our volunteers have spent time, worship with our partner churches, and plan for the next steps on our work together.

Please hold us in prayer as you journey toward Jerusalem during Holy Week.

Rick

General Assembly

• Join us for the Peace Breakfast Click here for full details.
• Peace Overtures:Five overtures on the War in Afghanistan, and an overture calling the church to nonviolence.
• If you're planning to attend GA, PPF has some lower-cost hotel rooms still available. If you're interested, please contact MaryAnn Harwell at maryann@presbypeacefellowship.org.
• If you'd like to help us at GA, please contact Peggy Howland at peghowland@aol.com

Convocation of Peacemakers update

Over 40 people from around the country have already registered for the Convocation of Peacemakers on April 15-17 at Stony Point Center. It's not too late to register, and there is still room for more at this table! If you can't be with us, please support this group of peacemakers in your prayers as they discern the movement of the Spirit in their lives and in the life of the church.

Speakers Bureau

We've recently updated our Speakers Bureau to feature two new speakers who can inform, enlighten, and inspire your congregation or organization. Tim Simpson and Parrish Jones both bring personal passion and intellectual rigor to their presentations and can speak to a variety of topics concerning the work of nonviolence in the church. We're particularly excited about their expertise on Nonviolence in Early Christianity, in light of National Capital Presbytery's recent overture to GA.

Upcoming Events

• Convocation of Peacemakers (April 15-17, 2010)
• Crossing Borders, Encountering God (April 15-17, 2010)
• Peace Breakfast (July 7, 2010)
• We're All in This Together: Confronting the Structures of Injustice (July 26-August 1, 2010)
• Songs of Peace and Justice (October 10 -14, 2010)
• Consultation and Encounter: the Presbyterians of Iraq, Syria and Lebanon (November 5-19, 2010)