Littlefield Presbyterian
Church had struggled over four decades to find ways to witness
to the love of Jesus Christ and to be agents of reconciliation
in its neighborhood, where the majority of residents are Muslim.
As the congregation grew smaller andhad fewer young people,
they had stopped trying to hold programs like vacation Bible
school for youth.
In 1997, Elder Doris Edwards, Chuck Edwards, and Pastor Fran
Hayes attended the Presbyterian Peacemaking Conference. On the
flight home, Doris shared her dream of holding a peace camp.
In July 1998, Littlefield held its first Peace Camp, an interfaith,
intergenerational activity. At camp, Christian and Muslim children
sing songs of peace, build a neighborhood of peace and justice
out of big boxes, and learn peace-building skills.
By 2005, a majority of the participants were Muslim children.
In 2006, Littlefield invited a youth group from Westminster
Church in Ann Arbor to become a partner.
The Ann Arbor youth developed friendships with the Dearborn
youth, several of whom had been in Lebanon visiting family when
war broke out there and had returned home to Dearborn only days
before Peace Camp. This partnership worked so well that another
youth group was invited to be a partner the next year, to learn
together to build peace, to practice respect and love of neighbor,
and to grow in understanding of who neighbors are.
The Presbytery of Detroit has 35,475 members in 86 congregations,
3 fellowships, and 4 churches in transformation. |
