GA06059
Presbyterian Peacemaking Fellowship Breakfast
Ufford-Chase named new executive during celebratory breakfast that kicks off endowment campaign
by Corey Schlosser-Hall
Rick Ufford-Chase, moderator of the 216th General Assembly and recently named the first executive director of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, speaks at the Peace Breakfast. Photo by Danny Bolin
BIRMINGHAM, June 17 — Participants at the Presbyterian Peacemaking Fellowship breakfast jumped to their feet and applauded when Len Bjorkman, moderator emeritus of the Peacemaking Fellowship, announced that former PC(USA) Moderator Rick Ufford-Chase will be the first full-time executive director of the Fellowship.
As part of his response, Ufford-Chase acknowledged how the Peacemaking Fellowship has been a key resource and community for him since he was 18 years old.
During a speech of thanks at the Saturday morning breakfast, Ufford-Chase said, "I have agonized over where God would be calling me next. When I was asked to consider this, my agony immediately came to an end."
In a printed statement released by the Peacemaking Fellowship, Ufford-Chase reflected on the symbiosis of his call and the Peacemaking Fellowship. "Nonviolence is at the heart of Jesus. For me it is at the very heart of the Gospel," he said.
The Rev. Alice Winters, a Presbyterian mission worker in Colombia, speaks on the Presbyterian Colombia Accompaniment Program at the Peace Breakfast. Photo by Danny Bolin
During her keynote speech, Alice Winters, a mission co-worker in Colombia, painted a picture of life in Colombia through the lens of her students' term papers. The assignment was to write about life in Columbia by interpreting the book of Esther. Their paper titles elicit the contours of life and how Colombians live their faith.
While protecting their names, Winters shared these topics written from the experiences of the students:
- Faithfulness to God in the midst of a community of pagans
- Courage in the face of the threat of death
- Strategies of domination and control in an oppressive society
- Strategies of resistance in an oppressive society
- Religion as a form of resistance in an oppressive society
- Role of women in the struggle of a people
- Banquets in the book of Esther
Reformed University, where Winters teaches and these students learn, began 10 years ago as a major project of the Presbyterian Church in Colombia.
Milton Mejia from Colombia and Anne Barstow were awarded the 2006 Peaceseeker Award for their work with the Colombian accompaniment program. Poet Ann Barr Weems was awarded the 2005 Peaceseeker Award.
Presbyterian Peace Fellowship Endowment Fund Chair James Atwood, Douglas Allen, Ann Barr Weems and PPF Executive Director Rick Ufford-Chase walk letters to “the Peacemakers of tomorrow” to the Birmingham post office. The letters contain endowment fund appeals to Presbyterian Peace Fellowship members. Photo by Danny Bolin
After Jim Atwood announced the kickoff of the Peacemaking Fellowship endowment campaign and the $70,000 in lead pledges from the Peacemaking Fellowship leadership committee, those assembled sifted through 2,100 letters to be sent to fellowship participants asking contributions to the campaign.
Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, "Letters from a Birmingham Assembly" initiates a campaign intended to raise $2 million in the coming years to support peacemaking and non-violence in perpetuity. |
