Spring 2008

U.S. Reconciliation Leaders Gather at Duke

Over 70 denominational and organizational leaders, grassroots practitioners, pastors, and scholars of Christian reconciliation gathered at Duke Divinity School in early May for two and half days of conversation, story-telling, relationship-building and worship.  Participants spoke powerful words of lament and hope from landscapes including the isolation of the disabled, ecclesial brokenness, gun violence, and ethnic divides. Plenary session topics included Sharing Our Stories of Pain and Hope, Shaping the Beloved Community, and Formation of Leaders and Communities Through Key Christian Practices. Highlights included a breakthrough conversation on immigration and a moving commissioning service led by three “elders”—Ivan Kaufmann of Bridgefolk (a fellowship of Catholics and Mennonites), Barbara Williams-Skinner, and Ed King, a veteran of the Mississippi civil rights movement.

Second Annual Kampala Gathering

On January 22 -25, 2008, seventy Christian leaders from nine different countries gathered outside Kampala, Uganda to learn, share, discuss, celebrate, worship, and reflect on reconciliation in the Great Lakes Region of Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, and Uganda. The gathering was hosted by the Center for Reconciliation and co-convened by the Mennonite Central Committee, World Vision International, and African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries (ALARM). The gathering was a continuation of an initiative launched in November 2006, now broadening the circle and building the momentum. The election crisis and violence in Kenya was a major focus of concern, and a “Hope for Kenya” Forum birthed out of the gathering has offered a significant presence over the last several months.

New Resources for Reconciliation Book Series

The first two titles of Resources for Reconciliation, a new book series to be published jointly by the Center for Reconciliation and InterVarsity Press, will be released in November 2008.  This is a series of accessible books written for everyday Christians, churches, and leaders, addressing a range of areas of brokenness and highlighting a distinctive vision for reconciliation as God’s new creation in Christ.  Each volume in the series will be co-authored by a practitioner and theologian. Chris Rice and Emmanuel Katongole will author the series’ lead title, Reconciling All Things. Jean Vanier, founder of the L’Arche communities, and Duke Divinity School theologian Stanley Hauerwas will author the second book, Living Gently in a Violent World. 

Vanier and Hauerwas to Co-Teach Second Annual Teaching Communities Week

Jean Vanier and Stanley Hauerwas will co-teach during the Center’s second annual Teaching Communities Week, November 8 – 10, 2008 at Duke Divinity School. Planned events include a a November 8 day-long workshop, Vanier preaching at Duke Chapel on November 9, an evening presentation in Durham on November 9, and a Vanier-Hauerwas keynote lecture on November 10.  Registration information will be available on the Center for Reconciliation website in August. Last year’s co-teachers were John Perkins and Charles Marsh.

Noteworthy

• In May, six Master of Divinity students began 10-week Teaching Communities apprenticeships at L’Arche Daybreak, Canada; Church of the Savior, Washington, D.C.; Circle Urban Ministries, Chicago; New Song Church and Urban Ministries, Baltimore; and Word Made Flesh communities in India and Nepal (a new placement in partnership with 2008 visiting practitioner fellows Chris and Phileena Heuertz). Pray for rich and transformational experiences.  Videos of two of last summer’s interns at their placement sites are available on our website.

Recommended Resources

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, our Associate for the Resources for Reconciliation book series, has published a new book of his own with NavPress.  In Free to Be Bound: Church Beyond the Color Line, Jonathan tells the story of his own awakening to the racial divisions in the church and proposes a fresh vision of Christian identity beyond the confines of race.  To order your copy and to hear about bulk discount call NavPress Customer Service at 1-800-366-7788 or order online at www.navpress.com.  

Read the latest Journeys of Reconciliation column by Chris Rice, “The Witness of JP,” written in honor of his mentor John Perkins for the June Envision 08 conference. 

Upcoming Events At the Center

October 13 – 15:  Duke Divinity Convocation & Pastors School, “For Such a Time as This: Christian Leadership in a Changing World.”  Emmanuel Katongole and Chris Rice lead the seminar “Hope and Leadership for Reconciliation.”

November 8 – 10: Second Annual Teaching Communities Week featuring Jean Vanier and Stanley Hauerwas

November 16: Chris Rice will speak to the adult Sunday School class of Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill on “Glimpses of Forgiveness from Mississippi to Uganda.”

January 12 – 16, 2009: Third African Great Lakes gathering convened by the Center for Reconciliation.

Words to Ponder

“…God has given us a new identity by liberating us to live and worship across the color line that has defined American identity.  Our common history in this country has enslaved us in different ways, but it has enslaved us all…Some of us have been held down by discrimination, and some of us have been prisoners to power.  Some of us have been addicted to crack, and some of us have been addicted to money.  But God has set us free for life together.  We’ve been called out from out different cultural identities to be one new people.  We are a people on our way to Galilee.  We are pilgrims together in pursuit of God’s new world.”

— Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove in Free to Be Bound