Presbyterian Peace Fellowship’s Atwood Institute fosters the joy of acting together to save lives
Schedule released for the Sept. 24-27 gun violence prevention training at Massanetta Springs Camp and Conference Center near Harrisonburg, Virginia
As the White House dismantles gun violence prevention programs, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship forges ahead to nourish the fortitude and skills of congregations for saving lives. If you and your congregation are distressed by more than 40,000 Americans dying from gun violence each year — and you want to do something about it — then register for the Peace Fellowship’s Atwood Institute for Congregational Courage.
This annual gun violence prevention training for clergy and lay leaders will be held Sept. 24-27 at Massanetta Springs Camp and Conference Center near Harrisonburg, Virginia. The event welcomes churches of all denominations — those taking their first steps or those already engaged in what is a central spiritual and public health crisis in the United States. Learn more, register and find the newly-released Institute schedule here.
Forging ahead will also include portable forges as participants gain hands-on opportunities to learn about Guns to Gardens and to beat unwanted guns into garden tools. “The Atwood Institute is an immersion in a community of clergy and lay, newcomers, activists and experts — a kind of baptism for faith-based gun violence prevention,” says the Rev. Margery Rossi, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship’s Minister for Gun Violence Prevention. “It offers practical learning and continuing education from how to preach on this issue to how to foster congregational education and action to how to offer pastoral care at times of gun violence.”
Some who attended last year’s Atwood Institute recorded a short video to encourage churches to send teams to the 2025 Institute. They surprised themselves by focusing on joy. “In gun violence, we’re dealing with heavy, painful realties, but we’re also talking about joy,” said one participant. “It’s the joy of being with so many other people who have the same passion to save lives and take risks,” replied Cheryl Hunt, a member of Presbyterian Women. “We’re driving from California to Virginia to be there.”
Hosted by the Massanetta Springs Camp and Conference Center, the Institute honors the late Christian prophet of gun violence prevention, the Rev. James Atwood. The Institute’s faculty this year will include Joshua Horwitz, Atwood’s long-time colleague and now Co-Director and Distinguished Professor of Gun Violence Prevention and Advocacy at the Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Gun Violence Solutions at Johns Hopkins University. The Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, the PC(USA)’s director of advocacy, will offer the send-off sermon for the Institute, as participants commit to taking faithful action. Other faculty will include Quaker artist and blacksmith Scotty Utz of RAWTools South, who will lead training for Guns to Gardens, and Rev. Rosalind Hughes of the Episcopal Archdiocese of Cleveland, Ohio, and the author of “Whom Shall I Fear?”
The Institute’s keynote speaker, the Rev. Sharon Risher, will mark 10 years since her mother and other relatives were killed at the Mother Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. The author of “For Such a Time as This — Hope and Forgiveness after the Charleston Massacre,” Risher will demonstrate the need to tell our stories, rather than rely only on statistics about gun violence. She will lift up a call to courage in the face of a political climate where recent gains in saving lives are now all at risk. Risher’s address on the evening of Sept. 24 will be open to the public and area churches.
Each year, the Atwood Institute trains clergy and lay leaders in Gun Violence Prevention practical skills for congregational use, including managing trauma and opposition and engaging congregations in practical GVP education and action, including legislative advocacy, secure storage efforts and other steps to protect children from gun violence. Participants have an option to follow up the event with quarterly online gatherings with their Atwood Institute community to encourage one another over time. The first Atwood Institute was held in 2024 at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico with a community of 72 faith activists. They returned home to offer action strategies learned at the Atwood Institute, as well as pastoral care after two mass shootings.
Costs for the 2025 Institute will be a $180 registration fee per person, plus participants are responsible for their own travel and lodging at Massanetta Springs. There is a commuter option. Thanks to sponsors, some scholarships are available. To sponsor, contact the Rev. Jan Orr-Harter, Moderator of the Peace Fellowship’s Gun Violence Prevention Working Group, at gvp@presbypeacefellowship.org.
About Massanetta Springs Camp & Conference Center Located in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, near Harrisonburg and Interstate 81, Massanetta Springs Camp and Conference Center offers a setting of natural beauty and Christian hospitality, just two hours from Washington, D.C. About 15 states are within an eight-hour drive of the Center, making the 2025 Atwood Institute a convenient destination for many individuals and church teams.
Who was the Rev. Jim Atwood?
The Rev. Jim Atwood was a Presbyterian missionary, pastor and avid hunter whose life was re-directed when a member of his Virginia congregation was murdered with a $20 handgun in 1975. For nearly 50 years, he called on the church of Jesus Christ to take action to balance the rights of responsible gun owners with the right to live free from the epidemic of gun violence. Find links to Atwood’s books and study guides in the Education Section of the Peace Fellowship’s Gun Violence Prevention Congregational Toolkit here.
About Presbyterian Peace Fellowship
Founded in 1944, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship is a nationwide community of Christians committed to the nonviolence of Jesus Christ. PPF equips congregations and individuals to seek practical alternatives to violence and war, including gun violence. An independent nonprofit group, PPF operates with volunteers and a small staff, collaborating with the PC(USA) and encouraging this work in congregations and with ecumenical partners. Learn more here.
Learn more about the Atwood Institute here.
For suggestions or questions, contact gvp@presbypeacefellowship.org.
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