Have you ever stopped to wonder what God’s view of this world might be? To begin with, one would imagine that when God sees the world it is not primarily a set of land masses separated by geo-political lines and borders. Neither would a portrait of God’s people be analogous to the images portrayed to us on North American television. According to the World Almanac, only 13 percent of the world’s Christians live in North America (compared to 27 percent in Latin America, and 18 percent in Africa). How does our concept of the worldwide Christian community compare with such statistics? Did you ever stop to think of all the variety of prayers and requests that might be directed to God on a given day? What would be the subject of these prayers from all over the world? How might the Holy Spirit be at work in the world to answer the prayers of God’s people, say, in Africa by the people of God in North America? How can we as Presbyterians gain a more thoughtful view of the world?

Sara Lisherness, Coordinator for the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, states, “American Presbyterians get to hear the ‘unplugged,’ uncensored version of what’s really happening on the ground. They also get to hear how people live out their faith in very difficult contexts.” This October, Christians from such places as Nicaragua, Russia, Sudan, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Colombia, Syria, and Northern Ireland will visit our churches and presbyteries through the International Peacemakers Program.

The program is one of several ways the Peacemaking Offering helps fulfill the believer’s calling to peacemaking. Other General Assembly programs include interfaith listening projects, young adult network and travel study experiences, annual peacemaking conferences, and a myriad of resources for personal, congregational, community, and worldwide peacemaking initiatives.

Each year, since 1980, a Peacemaking Offering has been received on World Communion Sunday to celebrate our common life in the global bonds of Christ’s peace-giving body. The General Assembly specified that congregations should keep 25 percent of the Offering for their own peacemaking efforts; 25 percent would be used by synods and presbyteries, and 50 percent would be used by the General Assembly’s Peacemaking program.

This year, a new resource by Eric H. F. Law, Living the Gospel of Peace: Tools for Building More Inclusive Community, is included in the packet. Plan now to celebrate World Communion Sunday on October 3, and receive the Peacemaking Offering. For a complete listing of how the General Assembly allocates its portion of the Offering, go to the PC(USA) Web site: www.pcusa.org/peacemaking.

Click here to read more on what you can do for the Peacemaking Offering season time in your church.

For more information on the Peacemaking Offering, contact Jon Brown, author, and Coordinator for Mission Education and Promotion. Visit www.pcusa.org/peacemakingoffering. For information regarding the International Peacemakers Program, visit www.pcusa.org/peacemaking/intl/international.htm.