Bringing peace to the community: being agents of change
Are you desperate to make a difference in your neighbourhood? Are you yearning for change in your community? You can make a difference. And we believe that we can all make a difference in bringing about peaceful community change.
There are different ways people can get involved and become agents of peace in their community. Breakthru Community Action (BCA) together with the Anabaptist Network in South Africa (ANiSA) are working together to bring together people who believe that God is already at work in their communities and want to join in with bringing God’s shalom in that place.
On Friday July 22 from 2-7 pm through Saturday July 23 from 9-5 pm, a PEACEFUL COMMUNITY CHANGE workshop, co sponsored by Breakthru Community Action and ANISA (Anabaptist Network in South Africa), will be held at BCA (43 Boom Street, Pietermaritzburg). This workshop will provide training for people who want to make a difference in their neighbourhood – to bring about change in the community from a peaceful perspective. These workshops are ideal for those who would like to get their church involved in community change. It can also be of use to those who would like to learn how to bring change in their community.
Goals of this one and a half day workshop are: to introduce participants to the concept of Kingian non-violence and Biblical community change, to understand different types of conflict, to learn how to apply it to issues identified in your community, and to begin outlining strategies for peaceful problem solving in your own community. It will introduce people to becoming agents of change using the peaceful approach of Martin Luther King, Jr. by identifying needs in their own community and begin outlining action for moving forward.
People are also invited to join the International Day of Prayer for Peace (IDOPP) Campaign. September 21, 2011 will once again be the day when people around the world gather for the International Day of Prayer for Peace (IDOPP). People can register for free online at http://onearthpeace.org/idpp/ .
Last year BCA joined this worldwide initiative and became a part of this grassroots movement for peace. BCA’s journey began with a Listening Initiative where volunteers were sent out into the community to listen as to how God is at work in the community. All who were a part of the Listening initiative were then invited to come together to hear the concerns of the community as well as the hopes people had in making it a better place, followed by prayer. For more information on last year’s Listening Initiative see: http://www.mennonitemission.net/Stories/News/Pages/ListeningmissionSouthAfrica.aspx
For more information and to learn how to conduct a listening initiative, contact Thandi Gumbi, Coordinator of BCA (breakthrucommaction@gmail.com) or Christine Lindell Detweiler, Programmes BCA (email address).
To register for the Peaceful Community Change workshop, contact Christine at 074 187 4344 or by email at lindet5@gmail.com or Andrew Suderman at aksuderman@gmail.com. A registration fee of R120 will cover catering costs for the workshop.
