Kenya, with its growing economy and a fragile, yet viable democracy, has long been considered the jewel of East Africa. Last December all that changed. Facing a national election, politicians greedy for power unearthed old tribal grievances of land grabbing and economic disparity. When the results of the election were announced, violence erupted. For a while mobs roamed at will, killing anyone they found in their midst who was from another tribe. Businesses and homes were burned and looted, the work of a lifetime destroyed. More than 1,000 people were killed, and 600,000 refugees were crowded into camps with little food, water, and shelter.

At a point where many were convinced that a downward spiral of violence would lead to genocide, the church and world community stepped in. Among those who responded to the crisis, the Rev. Cliff Kirkpatrick, former stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), led an ecumenical peacemaking delegation to Kenya.

In an interview with Presbyterians Today Kirkpatrick recounted the trip:
“We visited villages where people’s homes had been burned down the night before, women abused and children killed. We then visited some of the communities where the perpetrators came from. Their anger at the injustices in Kenya — the lack of land reform, the ethnic nature of politics — makes it a very frightening situation. Churches in Kenya, by and large, are organized on ethnic lines. They have supported political parties organized on ethnic lines. If there is to be a future, churches have got to take a role of bridging those ethnic divides. I think churches are committed to being part of the answer rather than part of the problem.”

Kirkpatrick concluded: “There is a strong will, even among the political leadership, that this cannot be allowed to go the way of Rwanda .... They’re seeing this as a wakeup call that it’s time to work on reconciliation, greater justice, and a better future.”

Now more than ever the world needs to know God’s peace. You can make a difference. Give generously to the Peacemaking Offering. The world is waiting.

Churches in the Presbytery of the Cascades in Oregon have actively supported the Presbyterian Peacemaking Offering for many years. In the past few years, many congregations have directed their 25 percent of the Offering to address efforts of healing in response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa. Last year Cascades Presbyterians raised awareness of the reality of HIV/AIDS within the bounds of their presbytery, where nearly 400 new cases of HIV infection are reported each year. They focused their response on the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon HIV Day Center, the first community-based HIV center in the United States.

The Day Center is a drop-in center for low-income people living with HIV/AIDS. The center provides hot breakfasts and lunches and take-home sack meals four days a week. The center’s Daily Bread Express program provides in-home meal delivery for low-income people living with HIV/AIDS. A full-time social worker is available for counseling, information, and referrals. Day Center clients have access to phones, a mail drop, washer and dryer, clothing, a shower, and hygiene supplies. There are no fees for the Day Center.

The Mission Support Committee of the presbytery urged congregations to give all or some of their portion of the Offering to the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon HIV Day Center. Together they bear witness to God’s shalom around the world and in their community through the Peacemaking Offering.

Your gifts to the Offering really do make a difference. Twenty-five percent of the Offering is retained by congregations for projects of their own choosing like the HIV Day Center. Twenty-five percent is directed to presbytery peacemaking initiatives. Fifty percent is designated for peacemaking work carried out by the whole denomination. Lives are changed and communities are transformed. Give prayerfully and generously to the Presbyterian Peacemaking Offering.

The Christian experience is a life held in the balance between Jesus’ words that “the kingdom of God is among you” and the realization that the fulfillment of that day is still a vision for the future. Along the way, God’s people bear faithful and bold witness to a foretaste of the realm of God in concrete actions here and now. Such was the case for five congregations in Chicago, Illinois.

On World Communion Sunday 2007, five Presbyterian congregations who identify themselves as belonging to the Northwest Fellowship of Presbyterian Churches met to celebrate their union in Christ. Faith Community Presbyterian Church, Des Plaines First Presbyterian, Morton Grove Community Church, Niles Community Church, Norwood Park Presbyterian, and St. Andrew Community Church set aside their own familiar settings, gathered at a community center, and in worship reflected the multicultural textures of God’s worldwide community of faith. Music, prayers, and liturgy rang out in a variety of languages and accents. The Reverends Milton Mejia and Adelaida Jimenez of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia preached the sermon. These ecumenical partners bore testimony to the experience of the Colombian church working for a just society amid death threats and violence. They spoke of the accompaniment of Christian brothers and sisters who literally walked with them in their struggle for a just peace. The worship experience was a foretaste of the reign of God’s shalom that is yet to come, yet realized by the community of God’s people in particular times and places.

Your gifts to the Peacemaking Offering help your community and others realize God’s sovereign reign of peace—even in the midst of a violence-torn world. Twenty-five percent of the Offering is retained by the congregation. Twenty-five percent is used by regional presbyteries and synods to bear witness to God’s justice and peace. Fifty percent of the Offering is directed to the national church’s witness and work in peacemaking. Your gifts change the world. Please give generously.

For nearly 10 years members of St. Mark Presbyterian Church have been cultivating peace in Northern Ireland. But they’ve been doing it in St. Louis, Missouri! In 1988 the Rev. Kerry Waterstone of Ulster, Ireland, met with the Rev. Robert Hagel from St. Mark Presbyterian, and together they began the St. Louis Ulster Project. The Ulster Project, which has chapters in many cities across the United States, has as its mission to promote “a peaceful parity of esteem between Roman Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, by building tolerance, trust, and on-going positive relationships among potential leaders from these Christian traditions.”

St. Mark’s dedicates its 25 percent of the Peacemaking Offering to the ongoing success of the St. Louis Ulster Project. St. Mark’s and other participating churches coordinate shared activities among Irish youth who come to St. Louis and stay in the homes of either Roman Catholic or Protestant church families with teens. The Irish youth, who live in segregated Protestant or Catholic communities, get to experience how Americans of different religious traditions have learned to live together. American and Irish youth learn trust and understanding that focuses on their similarities rather than their small differences. Upon their return to Ireland, the Catholic and Protestant youth have reunions that nurture the bonds of friendship and respect initiated during the summer program. Many have remained friends for years.

While Reverend Waterstone was in St. Louis he was asked why this particular age group was selected. He replied: “Great and dramatic change in history has always begun with the young. This is where we must begin if we are ever to see change.”

Where will we bring peace? How can we use our portion of the Peacemaking Offering to make a difference in this world? On this World Communion Sunday, let us give generously to the Peacemaking Offering.