Two years ago the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship (PPF) entered a period of “Deep Focus” on the call to Defund the Police. This period began in the midst of the racial justice uprisings across the country following the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, after a history of many more deaths at the hand of the state.
That time of study and action led the almost 80-year-old organization to articulate their long-standing commitments in a new way. This week PPF has announced a new vision statement that anchors all their collective work for peace and justice in abolition.
Relying on God’s grace, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship imagines
a world of peace where all God’s creation can thrive.
In local and global communities, we will use every nonviolent means
to disrupt and transform the culture of domination that normalizes
racism, ecocide, militarization, and war.
We build peace through the abolition of structural violence
and by living into alternatives to violence
with creativity, intelligence, imagination, and love.
“This new vision does not override our long-standing commitments to anti-militarism, a fossil free world, or the prevention of gun violence;” said Rev. abby mohaupt, one of the co-moderators, “rather it refocuses how we do that work in words that are particular to this time and place.”
The organization noted the rising threats of fascism and right-wing extremism across the globe, fueled in part by Christian Nationalism, climate chaos, and dangerous war threatening nuclear disaster and exacerbating the energy crises as just a few of the realities that are shaping how they organize themselves in this moment of history.
“We will not stand by while this culture of structural violence escalates,” said Rev. David Ensign, the interim Executive Director, “and we feel really excited about the ways this new vision coupled with new leadership as we navigate staff transition will create powerful new opportunities for us to take action together.”
The organization made the decision together with the previous Executive Director, Rev. Emily Brewer. Rev. Brewer left after seven years of leadership, and PPF will be seeking new leadership soon.
PPF has a long history of taking unpopular stands that are grounded in the life and witness of Jesus. In an email to their network they write, “From our earliest moments, we have been an abolitionist movement.”
The legacy of PPF’s eighty-year history is marked by moments of significant change in direction at regular intervals in order to stay true to an overarching commitment to stand against violence and war and to focus on the things that make for peace.
Over the years there has been a commitment to the abolition of war and nuclear weapons, gun violence, fossil fuels, and the structural violence that fuels migration across the globe.
“We are really excited about the ways this new vision statement calls us to imagine and create a new world together, with new cultures and systems that make for peace,” said Rev. Lucy Waechter Webb, “the framework of abolition compels us to build up a new world as we simultaneously work to dismantle the structures of violence that cause so much harm.”
You can learn more at: https://www.presbypeacefellowship.org/about/
