The Family of Nations: The Peoples in Conflicts We See and Serve for Peace

Today’s reading continues in Section VI: The Family of Nations – The Peoples in Conflict We See and Serve for Peace. Read here.

We repent of our failures to condemn and restrain violence by remaining silent, by promoting nationalism, or by unjustly supporting conflicts through deficient theological justification.

We condemn those who use their influence in world affairs to promote avoidable conflicts and wars, merely to further their economic and political interests. We are saddened by the immense suffering their actions have caused. We believe that they will be held accountable before God on the day of judgement.

We call all Christians to serve the vulnerable in contexts of war by pooling our resources and supporting the relief efforts of churches and humanitarian organisations that are situated near conflict zones. We also commit to serve as peacemakers, by supporting negotiations aimed at ending conflicts and by calling for justice and reparation for the innocent victims of violence.

Christians at various times in history have not only promoted violence and war but also remained silent in the face of such atrocities rather than speaking with prophetic integrity and courage. This is captured in the Cape Town Commitment:

We acknowledge with grief and shame the complicity of Christians in some of the most destructive contexts of ethnic violence and oppression, and the lamentable silence of large parts of the church when such conflicts take place. Such contexts include the history and legacy of racism and black slavery; the holocaust against Jews; apartheid; ‘ethnic cleansing’; inter-Christian sectarian violence; decimation of indigenous populations; political and ethnic violence; Palestinian suffering; caste oppression and tribal genocide.