During a stirring worship service held at the Interchurch Center in New York City on January 12, 2004, representatives from Christian faith communities around the globe launched a yearlong effort to confront and overcome violence in the United States as part of the World Council of Churches’ Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV). The worship service also commemorated the life and ministry of the Rev. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., who preached and lived nonviolence.

God calls us to do justice and to work for peace. Jesus invites us to follow his nonviolent way. Rooted in our faith, the DOV (2001-2010) grows from the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) engagement with the issues of justice, peace, and the integrity of creation. The churches meeting for the Eighth WCC Assembly in Harare, Zimbabwe, at the end of the most violent century in human history, committed themselves to a pilgrimage of peace. This assembly challenged churches, ecumenical organizations, and all people of goodwill to work together to overcome violence through peace and justice.

In setting the 2004 focus, the WCC Central Committee acknowledged problems of “poverty, violence, racism in all its diverse forms, inter-faith relations, migration and inequality in education and employment” in the United States. It also noted that because of its unchallenged power, the United States often seems to see itself in a position where “it can afford to disregard the international order, refuse to be accountable to the UN, and ignore the concerns of the world’s populations.” The DOV focus will seek to resource and strengthen churches and movements working for peace in the United States by encouraging a commitment to mutual accountability and deepening the churches’ understanding of issues such as power, militarism, and community-building.

The Presbyterian Peacemaking Program of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will take the lead in interpreting the DOV focus to the PC(USA) and in working with the United States DOV Committee. The DOV Web site contains a variety of resources to support the ministries of congregations, presbyteries, and other groups.

Among those resources are a calendar of events on peacemaking and addressing violence. The Peacemaking Program has placed a number of items on the calendar that is described as “a work in progress.” The Young Adult Peacemaking Network Travel Study Seminar to Guatemala in May, a Ghost Ranch seminar, From Personal to International: Understanding Power for Peacemaking, in July, the 2004 Presbyterian Peace and Justice Conference in August, and the 2004 Interfaith Listening Project in September and October are currently included. The United States DOV Committee encourages churches and other Christian peace and justice advocacy groups to share information and resources for promoting the yearlong focus on overcoming violence in the United States.

Presbyterians engage in many other efforts to do justice and make peace. The listed events do not include the countless ministries of congregations, presbyteries, and synods. Indeed they provide only a sample of the work of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program. For example, the Presbyterian United Nations Office sponsored a 2004 January Term course in cooperation with Columbia Theological Seminary in which students grappled with the impact of globalization from biblical, theological and ethical perspectives. During this year in which the DOV focuses on the Power and Promise of Peace in the United States, the Peacemaking Program gives thanks to God for all the Presbyterians and governing bodies throughout the PC(USA) seeking peace, nonviolence, justice, and reconciliation in the name of Jesus Christ.

“What can we do to follow in Dr. King’s footsteps?” asked the Reverend Dr. Otis Moss, pastor of the Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio, in his sermon at the worship service opening the DOV focus on the United States. “What can we do to follow in Dr. King’s footsteps? We must be about the business of building a new generation of prophets of justice. We must be disciples of love, apostles of liberation, teachers of nonviolence, and ambassadors of reconciliation . . . When we break the bonds of injustice and oppression, then we become God’s peacemakers.” Presbyterians across the denomination engage in peacemaking ministries working for justice and seeking to address violence. The Decade to Overcome Violence focus will encourage and challenge Presbyterians and other Christians in these ministries as God’s peacemakers.