Trip Note--Italy #2, 2/09

Trip Notes--Rome, Italy 2/14/09

Greetings from Rome. We just finished the Global Baptist Peace Conference early this afternoon. An image that captures one of the themes (not formally, but lived!) took place during a question and answer period following the plenary presentation of Gustavo Parajon. The Baptist pastor from Congo who is now pastoring an immigrant church in Milan got up to ask a question, but he began a long statement about the war in Congo. He was very well spoken, but clearly was not speaking directly to Gustavo's presentation. The moderator finally tried to cut him off and press for the question, even approaching for the microphone, but the Congolese pastor said, "Let me speak." He was proud, gentle yet insistent. He continued on determined to say what he wanted to say. Finally the moderator gave up and let him finished. Gustavo responded that one of the important things for people from small countries (perhaps small in terms of global power, not necessarily
geographic size) is the need to find a voice. This Congolese pastor raised his voice and was determined to have his say, and what he said was something we needed to hear as the war in Congo is the bloodiest since World War II yet gets very little attention.

Raising the voices from the margins was an important part of our experience. Sharon and I led a session that included teaching on Mainstream and Margin as well as the Bible study on Rizpah in 2 Samuel 21 in which she raised her voice through a nonviolent action from an incredibly marginalized position. We had stories from places like Morocco, Zimbabwe, Nagaland, Angola, and US prisons. We had sermons from a clergy couple from Cuba and a powerful sermon about violence against women.

We had a demonstration in the piazza in front of the Baptist headquarters yesterday. We wore pinafores with signs about the various wars going on around the planet and the number killed in each conflict as well as quotes from people like Jesus, Gandhi and King. During the demonstration as people walked around our vigiling circle folks stood on the balcony outside the Baptist union office to read facts about the wars, then we had prayers from people from Uganda, Congo and other war torn lands.

But the importance of the voice being hear was experienced again in our worship service on Friday night which took place at the Waldensian Church downtown. After the demonstration we walked to the church for a 3-hour service with incredible music, a sermon from Ken Sehested and communion. But the telling moment came in the prayers of the people. They had organized a number of people from various countries to pray in their own languages followed by a sung response from the congregation. People from Zimbabwe, Cuba, Nepal, Italy, Congo and the US (my friend and neighbor Ken Flowers of the Greater New Mt. Moriah Baptist Church) were among those praying. It was time to end and the music leader started to move to the next song, but a man from Nigeria insisted on praying, and so he led in a prayer, then another from Uganda, then another. It was a beautiful moment of the Spirit moving the margins to speak, empowering the margins to take their holy place
before God's mercy seat and plead about the horrors and hopes of their countries. I was moved to tears at the power of having a voice for these dear friends.

There is so much to share. I encourage you to go to our website in a couple weeks to see some of the presentations, pictures and videos so you can share a bit in the conference: www.globalbaptistpeace.org.

Meanwhile, you can also pray for me. I'm coming down with a cold. I've been working like crazy on the conference logistics, finances and even some workshop leading. I haven't been getting much sleep. Then we spent a good part of Friday walking in Rome. Sharon and I shepherded friends from Liberia, Kenya, Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines to give them an experience of a lifetime in Rome. Coming from those tropical countries, we have them our coats, stocking hats and gloves and wore lighter clothes ourselves. I'm not sure if that's what pushed me over the edge or following up our walking by standing in the cold for the vigil. But now I'm not feeling so well. Still it was worth it. The gathering was amazing, the connections, networking, plans made, encouragement and much that I'm sure will only be revealed in time. Thank you for your prayers, financial participation and solidarity.

Peace,
Dan

Trip Note--Italy 2/09

Trip Notes--Rome, Italy, 2/11/09

I am in Rome--or just outside it in a beautiful Catholic retreat center--with over 300 peacemakers from around the world for the Global Baptist Peace Conference. We have people from over 50 countries who have gathered, mostly Baptists, but also Pentecostals, Catholics, Reformed church folks, Methodists, an Anglican and one Muslim. It's a peace conference where we have already touched some of the deepest pains in the world but also celebrated the transformative power of Christ. The worship has been stunningly rich. Sometimes worship needs to be closest to the sorrow of the world to know the wonder of grace and resurrection joy--that's certainly how our experience has been so far.

I've been working as the registrar for the non-Italians, a huge organizing challenge. Given that we had over 40 people have their visas denied, it's still an incredible gathering. Some of the people I've been working with over the years are here to learn more, share their stories, be encouraged and connect with other peacemakers engaged in similar struggles. Peacemaking colleagues I've worked with are here from Nagaland, Orissa, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, Georgia, Nicaragua and Wado from the Karen refugee camp. We have large delegations from Cuba, India as well as folks from Uganda, Kenya, El Salvador, Colombia, Palestine, Bangladesh, Japan, Burundi, and the list goes on. It's like homecoming, but with a serious purpose, helping us sustain our peacemaking for the long-haul.

Today Gustavo Parajon spoke, a key Baptist peacemaker who worked with the conciliation commissions that were part of ending the war in Nicaragua. He's one of my role models, and I was deeply moved to hear him.

Yesterday we had day-long intensive training seminars. Sharon and I facilitated a seminar on Bible-based conflict transformation. We had a great group, including 9 Cubans. We finished with the Rizpah story, weaving together all the work we had done earlier in the day. We also passed out CDs with my "Bible Study Manual on Conflict Transformation" in 7 langauges (English, Spanish, Chinese, French, Arabic, Burmese and Portugese). It has also been translated into Italian and will be given to all the Italian participants.

This afternoon it started to snow. We have huge snowflakes falling and sticking to the ground. Many of the conference participants from the tropical countries have never seen snow. It was amazing watching them standing out in the snow, taking pictures, relishing the flakes hitting their open hands--an unexpected delight.

This is the first breathing room I've had since Sharon and I arrived on Friday morning. As soon as we got checked into the hotel I went over to the Italian Baptist Union office to start working on the plans, especially picking people up and dealing with matters such as housing for the extra nights. Then Saturday and Sunday we were getting people at the airport, checking to see who wasn't going to make it because of not getting their visa, trying to find people who somehow slipped by our signs and the waiting people, getting people from the airport to downtown Rome, and later to the conference center. We had a press conference on Monday morning as the Italian Baptists are trying to use this opportunity to give Baptists more visibilty especially identifying them in relation to peace concerns.

I'll try to send a few more "snapshots" along the way. Meanwhile please keep this rich time in prayer that people who need to connect for some of the new things God might do will make those connections, that the discouraged folks would be lifted up, that people will gain just the skills they need for the challenges before them, that we will all have health, and that the ripples of peace will spread from here to touch distant places.

Ciao!

Pace (that's "pahch-ey"--"peace" in Italian),
Dan

Trip Note--Jamaica 1/09

Jamaica, 1/25/09

Yes, I'm in Jamaica in January--sounds unjust, doesn't it. Sitting on the beach, drinking rum with little umbrellas in our glasses--no, not exactly. I'm here for a meeting with my global consultant colleagues in International Ministries, along with our Area Director Charles Jones. Every other year we hold our meeting in a different country where we are developing new mission partnerships. The Jamaican Baptist Union and International Ministries have established a mission partnership. My visit to Jamaica in May 2007 was the first project of that partnership in Jamaica. Our gathering here is building on that and exploring ways for further extension of our shared mission.

We've been getting tours related to Jamaican Baptist history and mission. We've also had special meetings. I met with pastors in a tough neighborhood of Kingston to talk about dealing with the systemic violence in their community (Jamaica has one of the highest murder rates in the Western Hemisphere). I'd met with these pastors before, and they wanted to continue to discussion and go further. So while my colleagues met with various pastors and church leaders in the fields to which they relate I ran a mini-seminar on doing assessment of oppressive situations and building strategies to undo some of the negative dynamics.

Then today (Sunday) I went back to Denham Town. Denham Town is another of the rough neighborhoods of Kingston. Four and five years ago they had what they call "the war" a turf battle between major political/community gangs that was half-way between US gang war and open urban armed combat. The roadblocks set up by men in the neighborhood that I remembered from 2007 were still there, just yards from the Denham Town Baptist Church (DTBC). A neighboring church that had been ransacked and burned to the ground in the war had been rebuilt with a lot of help from the Baptist church. DTBC is an amazing congregation, packing out their small building, with a lot of young people and older members who are very active in reaching out to the community and mentoring the young ones. I preached on Luke 13.1-9, bearing the fruit of repentance in times of violence. I talked about what it is like to follow Jesus by loving our enemies in such times and places. These folks are doing it, not giving up even when it is hard, so I was there more to encourage and bless them and perhaps give a few ideas by sharing the stories of others courageously and faithful facing similiar difficulties.

We've also been doing some of our business as global consultants as we are scattered arouund the world. I am blessed to have some special colleagues: Lauran Bethell, Walt White, Mike Mann and Stan Slade. You can look them up at the IM website (www.internationalministries.org) to learn more about their wonderful ministries.

I'm also grateful for computers. With the Global Baptist Peace Conference coming up February 9-14, I could not afford to miss too much work on that. I'm the registrar for the conference, and we are dealing with over 150 people coming from countries where they will need visas to get into Italy for the conference. We raised scholarship funds for about 80 of those folks (full or partial). For each one I have all kinds of specific problems to help with, along with the other 100+ people coming from non-visa countries like the US. So when we're not working with Jamaicans or in our global consultants meetings, I'm working on the e-mails dealing with problems around the world. People are getting their visas, though, so hurray!

Blessings on you all. Thanks for praying for me, even in Jamaica. Looks like I'll have to wait for at least a third visit to see a beach!

Peace,
Dan

INDIA

I’ve done conflict transformation (CT) work in India for over a decade. Most of my work has been with the Nagas in northeast India (Nagaland and Manipur). I’ve also facilitated trainings with the Council of Baptist Churches in Northeast India, working with many different ethnic groups. I’ve done CT training programs in Delhi, including with Chin refugees from Myanmar. More recently I’ve been involved in peace-building and trauma healing in Orissa (just southwest of Calcutta) where Hindu militants have been killing Christians, destroying hundreds of churches and thousands of homes.

For BBC’s country background information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/country_profiles/1154019.stm

MYANMAR

I worked for three years from 1989 to 1992 in a peace mediation effort between the military government and ethnic insurgents, providing support and consultation for indigenous church leaders who led the mediation process. Since 2001 I have traveled almost every year to Myanmar to teach conflict transformation skills and principles to church leaders, through the sponsorship of the Shalom Foundation and Myanmar Institute of Theology.

Shalom Foundation:
http://www.shalommyanmar.org/
For BBC’s country background information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1300003.stm

INDONESIA

My first trip to Indonesia was a brief one with Daniel Hunter in 2001. We helped church leaders who had faced violence from Muslim militias to explore transformative ways to deal with the inter-religious conflicts they face. In 2007 I returned to Indonesia, teaching conflict transformation in academic contexts. I also worked with YTB Indonesia, an ecumenical Christian relief agency to train their staff in CT, including helping regional staff to apply those principles and skills to regional inter-religious conflicts.

YTB Indonesia
http://www.ytbindonesia.org/content/index.php
For BBC’s country background information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1260544.stm

ETHIOPIA

I began working on Ethiopian conflict issues first with the Ethiopian and Eritrean communities in North America. In partnership with an Ethiopian pastor we gathered about 70 Ethiopian and Eritrean Christians from 6 cities in the U.S. and Canada for a reconciliation retreat in Detroit while the war was still going on between their countries.

That launched a series of reconciliation conferences in Toronto, Washington, D.C. and Columbus, Ohio, which included prayer vigils at the Ethiopian and Eritrean embassies in Washington urging the two countries to come to a negotiated settlement of their conflict.

Then in 2005 I was invited by the Evangelical Churches Fellowship of Ethiopia, the national ecumenical organization, to facilitate conflict transformation trainings in Addis Ababa. That training opened up new relationships with the Ethiopian Baptists, and further invitations to conduct trainings with the Baptists as well as with the ECFE. One of the major conflict foci was inter-religious relationships, equipping church leaders to be creatively involved in building positive relationships across lines of religious division.

Addis Kidan Baptist Church:
http://ethiopianaddiskidan.org/
For BBC’s country background information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/country_profiles/1072164.stm