OUR VALUES
We are eager to collaborate with any and all of our neighbors in the work to build peace, though we ourselves are a Christian organization with the mission to equip and mobilize Christians for the work of peacebuilding.
These values are the foundation for our understanding and practice of peacebuilding and are deeply connected to several practical faith commitments inspired by our Christian faith and the teaching and example of Jesus. Although we do not expect our partners and friends to share our faith commitments, we hope that we can all rally behind the values and practices that have developed from them.
IMAGO DEI | VALUE & DIGNITY OF ALL
We believe that all people are made in the image and likeness of God, and, therefore, all people have infinite worth with the capacity to exercise agency, creativity, and power to steward and care for the world around them.
Therefore, we honor the dignity of each person by recognizing their inherent value, listening generously, and expecting to learn from and with them.
EXODUS | LIBERATION & JUSTICE
The story of Exodus shows us that God is a liberator, and this same God is constantly at work to rescue His people from oppression and injustice. Moreover, God continually calls on us to be those who create and uphold justice for others, and Jesus himself repeatedly confronted the social norms that crushed the outcast so that all people might experience the freedom and flourishing that God intends.
Therefore, we commit ourselves to the work of liberation and justice for all people, which requires that we stand with the marginalized and work together to address systems, structures, and cultures of violence that cause harm and perpetuate injustice.
INCARNATION | PRESENCE & RELATIONSHIP
We believe that God chose to put on flesh and move into the neighborhood. Jesus lived on the underside of the Roman Empire, among a people well-acquainted with suffering. Jesus got down in the dirt and mud, quite literally, to heal people. God chooses to come close to us and to those who are hurting because transformation and healing occur through relationships.
Therefore, we move toward others across divides with a posture of generous listening and hospitality. In all our diversity, we seek to understand and connect with empathy, because personal and societal transformation happen through proximity, presence, and real relationships.
AGAPE | TRANSFORMATIVE LOVE
We believe that in Jesus’s life, teaching, and death on the cross we see the highest example of agape love, a pure and sacrificial love that is committed to the wellbeing of the other. We believe this agape love is the most transformative power in the universe, healing and strengthening both the giver and receiver.
Therefore, we strive to love everyone--even those who might be considered enemies--because pure, willful, unselfish love transforms us all. When we choose love in our internal disposition and external actions towards others, we dismantle hatred, violence, and evil. We create opportunities for understanding, empathy, forgiveness, trust, and friendship to grow. We open up the possibility for enemies to become friends and allies.
SHALOM | FLOURISHING FOR ALL
We believe that Jesus announced and inaugurated the kingdom or reign of God. We believe God’s reign is characterized by shalom -- restored relationships between people and God, one another, our own selves, and the whole of creation. God is healing wounds and divisions in our own mindsets, between individuals and groups, and in the systems that crush God’s children.
Therefore, we envision a future where everyone experiences justice, wholeness, healing, and peace - the “beloved community” that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King described, in which “mercy and truth meet together; justice and peace kiss.” We commit to becoming this type of community, where diverse neighbors cultivate relationships with one another, working for and sustaining communities where everyone can flourish.
