About CPT

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) is a living answer to the question, "what would happen if Christians devoted the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war?"  It is an evolving challenge.

Partnering with nonviolent movements around the world, CPT seeks to embody an inclusive, ecumenical and diverse community of God's love.  We believe we can transform war and occupation, our own lives, and the wider Christian world through:

CPT places teams at the invitation of local peacemaking communities that are confronting situations of lethal conflict.  These teams seek to follow God's Spirit as it works through local peacemakers who risk injury and death by waging nonviolent direct action to confront systems of violence and oppression. 

CPT understands violence to be rooted in systemic structures of oppression. We are committed to undoing oppressions, starting within our own lives and in the practices of our organization.

CPT enlists the whole Church in an organized, nonviolent alternative to war.  CPT's initial roots among Mennonites, Church of the Brethren and Quakers have spread into a broad ecumenical network that supports: 

 

Video Introduction to Christian Peacemaker Teams

 

 

If you're interested in a DVD of the video, email sophiac@cpt.org and make a donation of whatever amount you choose to help cover the costs.

People

"What would happen if Christians devoted the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war?"

 

Peacemaker Corps: full-time and part-time workers

These people staff our field-based violence reduction projects. They commit to full-time or part-time work for three years.

Support Team

CPT's "staff," this group is generally based in our offices. They also serve on our violence reduction teams in the field.

Steering Committee

Representatives from:

This body functions as the board of directors and has general oversite of CPT's programs and operations.

Supporters

CPT is upheld by a sea of support: churches, organizations, individuals, meetings, fellowships, foundations, etc. CPT could not exist without this network of support. Thank you!

In Memoriam

We honor CPTers who have passed-on, joining the Great Cloud of Witnesses.....

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

 Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.

 

Hebrews 12:1-3    NRSV

Anne Herman

AnneHermanCPTer Anne Herman died on 22 November 2007. She served both full-time and as a Reservist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Art Gish

Former Reservist Art Gish was killed in a tractor accident 28 July 2010.art gish & block

Memorial Service: Saturday, August 7 · 1:30pm - 4:00pm in Athens, OH

Blog postings about Art's death and work

 

 

 

 

Letter from Palestine

Letter from the people of the South Hebron Hills

Art was frequently referred to as "Jabber" by some Palestinian communities

Dear Peggy, Art's children, and CPT, 

We were very sad to hear the news from CPT that "Jabber" was killed in a tractor accident. We asked the CPT team in At-Tuwani to send this letter to you on our behalf to express our condolences and our respect for Jabber. 

Jabber spent much time with our families, visiting us and working with us. We appreciated his interest in who we are, our way of life, and the struggles we face. Several of us also had the opportunity to meet Peggy three years ago in the summer when she worked with CPT in At-Tuwani. We respected the commitment of both Jabber and Peggy in working towards bringing justice and peace to the people in Palestine and Iraq. 

We will not forget Jabber. Allah yirhamo (May God have mercy on him). 

The people of At-Tuwani, Bier al-Eid, Ar Rakis, Muggara, Tuba, Susiya and Jinba

Reflection

 

Not Until I Know the Rest Can Pass Through:  Reflections on Art Gish in Palestine


by Dianne Roe

Art Gish and I served together on Christian Peacemaker Teams’ (CPT) Palestine Project for more than a decade starting in 1996. 

Saint Peter must be having quite a time dealing with Art Gish at the gates.  Art knows gates and has been known to take them down.  I can hear him saying, 'I won't pass through these gates until I know that the rest of these people can pass through.' 

Art was a radical Christian who practiced radical love and radical hospitality.  When Jesus sent forth the seventy in pairs (Matthew 10:1-11) they carried no purse, no bag, and no extra sandals.  That was how Art traveled and that was why he felt so liberated.  Israeli soldiers warned him that it was not safe to enter the Old City of Hebron. Art replied, "For you it is not safe because you are carrying a gun.  For me it is safe.  I have no weapons."

When Art and I traveled together, I was the one with the video camera. Powerful storytelling like Art’s and the video documentation enabled us to shine light on human rights abuses and show the human face of the Palestinian situation.  I was hiding behind the camera. But Art didn’t  hesitate to engage in the frontline enemy-loving, truth-telling.  Art was a hands-on peacemaker with his eyes on the prize and his hands and feet in the dirt.  He walked the walk, without an extra pair of sandals, whether in the Hebron hills or the gentler slopes of Athens, Ohio.  

This morning I started to throw out  onions that had turned soft.  Then I remembered Art carrying organic waste from Hebron's Old City to the Jaber farmlands in the Al Beqa’a Valley where it nurtured the soil.  I took the spoiled onions and started the Art Gish Memorial Compost Pile.  

Art must have been devastated to learn recently that the Israeli army destroyed the irrigation pipes and tomato crop of Palestinians in the Al Beqa’a Valley, where he had brought compost to both the fields and the non-violence movement.  But he knew the soldiers could not destroy the relationships formed when  Israelis like Amos Gvirtz, Rabbi Arik Ascherman, and Jeff Halper joined to stop the demolitions.  Such solidarity consecrates holy ground.

Art’s Hebron Journal was published in 2001.  But soon he was bragging about "a much better book," He proudly showed us Peggy Gish's Iraq: a Journey of Hope and Peace .  Both Art and Peggy knew what they were risking and they gave each other courage. 

There s a CPT compost pile we add to.  We don't know what peace our collective garbage will nourish.  We do know that crop rotation is a good thing and conflict is holy ground ready to be transformed. Art Gish lived his life seeking to transform conflict and to sanctify the ground.

Esther Ho

Former Reservist Esther Ho passed away August 20, 2010. She served in the early years of the projects in Hebron, Palestine and Chiapas, Mexico.

Memorial Video

Gene Stoltzfus

Gene Stoltzfus

11 March 2010
FORT FRANCES, ONTARIO: Gene Stoltzfus 1940-2010 – PRESENTE!

Wednesday, 10 March, Christian Peacemaker Team’s founding director Gene Stoltzfus died in Fort Frances, Ontario when his heart stopped while he was bicycling near his home on the first spring-like day of the year. He is survived by his wife Dorothy Friesen and many peacemakers who stand on the broad shoulders of his 70 years of creative action.

Gene was at the heart of those who planted and nurtured the vision for teams of peacemakers partnering with local communities in conflict zones to build justice and lasting peace which has grown into CPT.  Gene played a key roles in CPT's founding gathering of Christian activists, theologians and other Church leaders at Techny Towers outside Chicago, IL in 1986.

Two years later Gene became the first staff person of the newly formed organization and continued as CPT's director for the next 16 years.  In the early years, Gene and CPT’s Steering Committee experimented with various approaches to activate faith-grounded peacemaking.  Through the early 90s, Gene gave leadership to solidifying the vision and practice of sustained teamwork in situations of lethal conflict.  During the late 90s and early 2000s, he guided CPT through its growth and maturation as an organization supporting nonviolent action around the world.

After Gene retired from CPT in 2004 he continued his Christian peacemaking through nonviolent action, speaking and organizing in the USA, Canada and around the world.  He also spent considerable time in Fort Frances with Dorothy, where he wrote regular blog entries, worked for right relations with First Nations communities, and took up creative artisan endeavors making furniture and jewelry with wood, twigs and other objects from the woods near his home.

You can read a longer biography of Gene at http://www.cpt.org/speakers/gene_stoltzfus

The closing paragraph of Gene’s final post on his blog (http://peaceprobe.wordpress.com/) is an expression of his conviction and hope:

“Every one of us is impacted by a dominant culture which insists that military or police force will make things right.  Every day, that culture tells us that dirty tricks, usually done in secret, are required for our survival.  After all, it’s argued, someone has to do this dirty work.  It’s called a noble work and the Blackwater mercenaries are required for the work.  It will take an expanding world-wide but grassroots culture reaching beyond national borders to fashion a body of Christian peacemakers to be an effective power to block the guns and be part of transforming each impending tragedy of war.  Little by little there will be change.”

Biography

Gene StoltzfusGene Stoltzfus (1940-2010) was the Director of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) from its founding in 1988 until 2004.

Gene traveled to Iraq immediately before the first Gulf War in 1991 and spent time with the Iraq CPT Team in 2003 to facilitate consultation with Muslim and Christian clerics, Iraqi human rights leaders, families of Iraqi detainees and talking with American administrators and soldiers. The Team's work contributed to the disclosures around Abu Ghraib that gave impetus to the still tentative, worldwide movement for military forces to attend to the rights and protection of civilians.

From mid-December 2001 to mid-January 2002, Gene and current CPT Co-Director, Doug Pritchard, were in Pakistan and Afghanistan listening to the victims of bombing and observing the effects of 23 years of violence -- much of it fed by forces from outside Afghanistan. "Where have you been all these years?" asked an Afghan leader who articulated the voices of others around the globe.

Gene's commitment to peacemaking was rooted in his Christian faith and experience in Vietnam as a conscientious objector with International Voluntary Services during the US military escalation (1963-68). He recalled watching the helicopters personnel unload their cargo of bloodied bodies. This experience set him "on the search to make sense of life and death where the terms of survival, meaning and culture approve and even train for killing." Gene had to ask himself: Was I willing to die for my conviction of enemy loving just as Vietnamese and American soldiers all around me were being asked to give their lives in order to achieve peace and security?

In the early 1970's Stoltzfus directed a domestic Mennonite Voluntary Service program with a view to engaging with the social justice and peacemaking needs of that day and recognized then the enormous importance of local, disciplined, trained community and congregationally based peacemaking efforts. In the late 1970's, he and his wife co-directed the Mennonite Central Committee program in the Philippines during President Marcos' martial law era focusing it on human rights and economic justice; and then they went on to help establish Synapses, a grassroots international peace and justice organization in Chicago to connect the United States and people in the developing world.

Gene Stoltzfus grew up in Aurora, then a rural town in Northeast Ohio where his parents gave leadership in a Mennonite Church and his father was the pastor. He graduated in Sociology from Goshen College in Indiana and held an M.A. in South and Southeast Asian Studies from American University (Washington D. C.) and a Master of Divinity from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries in Elkhart, Indiana.

He was married to Dorothy Friesen of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. They lived in Chicago for 25 years until his retirement to Fort Frances, Ontario, Canada. After retiring from CPT, he traveled widely to speaking engagements, blogged regularly at Peace Probe at http://peaceprobe.wordpress.com/ and made twig furniture and jewelry as a contribution to the greening world.

Gene passed away on March 10, 2010.

Gene's speaker information is preserved here for archival purposes:

Gene spoke on the following topics:

  • Does Nonviolence Work in this Century
  • Where is God when Violence Breaks Out
  • Case Study-Peacemakers in the Midst of War: Iraq
  • Equipping Peacemaker Teams
  • Envisioning, Development, Training & Programming Peacemaker Teams
  • Bending Our Lives to Active Peacemaking
  • Sustaining the Spirit, the Body & the Mind for Long Term, Disciplined Peacemaking
  • Invitation to Global Peacemaking

 

1. Does Nonviolence Work in this Century?

How do we structure our lives of faith to give nonviolence the best chance in the years ahead?

The past century was the most violent in our common history however a sub theme was the emerging, rediscovery of nonviolence by Gandhi, King and the rest of us in the east & west, north & south-peace education and mediation efforts now span the globe. While in former times it might have been laughed off or marginalised, the emerging culture of non-violence-or at the least curiosity about its content and effectiveness-create conditions where learning, action, organizing and active peacemaking has a chance. This window of opportunity deserves our critical attention, able reflection and competent preparation. It needs the talents that each of us bring to the table

2. Where is God when Violence Breaks Out?

How can organized peacemaking efforts be taken to the heart of violence or war in the coming decades? People are forced to think hard about the meaning of their lives because war forces decisions. War can create the context where some soldiers begin to think about God while civilian victims question the faithfulness of God. In this context nonviolence can be particularly powerful in word, action, consistent strategy and symbol. Prayer and worship take on fresh meaning as the weakness and vulnerability of human civilization is made visible in killing and violence.

3. Case Study-Peacemakers in the Midst of War: Iraq

In Iraq the Christian Peacemaker Teams learned to invent responses to the overwhelming experience of violation, loss, and violence when the occupation began. CPT's work contributed to the disclosures around Abu Ghraib that gave impetus to the still tentative, worldwide movement for military forces to attend to the rights and protection of civilians.

Often we had to follow our intuition however in the work of human rights we learned from the efforts of international organizations like Amnesty International. Among Iraqi people we learned to listen fast, carefully and intelligently so that our listening was not unduly influenced by the enemies of peace. We learned to keep lines open in all direction in our public and private stance. We learned something about maintaining team life in what was often a perpetual state of emergency. But we also refined a strategy that contributed to some solutions but failed to stop or prevent the larger war. How do we explain these learnings and integrate them into the patterns of our peacemaking?

4. Equipping Peacemaker Teams: Envisioning, Development, Training and Programming Peacemaker Teams

History of CPT: This is the story of the development of Christian Peacemaker Teams over the last 25 years. How did we get to where we are today? Where are our convictions, our learnings, our human resources and the needs of the planet inviting us to go?

Bending Our Lives to Active Peacemaking Beginning in our local communities, how will we begin to organize ourselves for this great experiment? Not all of us will be able to structure our family lives, careers or community obligations to become full-time peacemakers although full-time people are needed now. Full time or part time we are invited to develop skills in listening, negotiations, team work, and disciplined nonviolence. The confidence of our spiritual convictions can be developed through both training and experience and this will equip us to think confidently about long-term strategy. We will be challenged to remember what we are living for and what is worth dying for.

Sustaining the Spirit, the Body and the Mind for Long Term Disciplined Peacemaking Peacemakers are regular people with personal needs, limits, hopes for meaningful worship, and vulnerabilities to wide mood swings, trauma, disappointment and joy. Peacemakers need a local support group for emotional support, help in decision making and to help carry out the work. There is no perfect support system but as peacemakers are trained and then live their way into the work in violent situations, unexpected gifts become available and new resistance uncovered. The great movements for human potential can help in this process of becoming more healthy and wise but it is the peacemaker herself who lives through the risks, the anger, and the hopes and then integrates them meaningfully. Are there hints in our experience that will help in our support systems?

5. Invitation to Global Peacemaking: Peace brought by force is elusive. Nonviolence works. Are we listening to this invitation?

The invitation to collaborate for peacemaking comes from Afghanistan to Burma and Zimbabwe; local congregations and tiny interchurch initiatives; urban centres and remote native settings; and denominations, universities and crisis settings. The call often comes with urgency when the crisis has already arrived and there is little time to call out people, train people to intervene and fashion a disciplined nonviolent response. The expected and routine response to crisis is that official armed units of police or military will respond to make things come out right. But the peace that is brought by force is elusive. The power of love and nonviolence works. Christians and all people of faith can play a leading role. The alternative in this century is for civilization, is for our world to rely on increasingly dangerous and out of control instruments of force and violence. Are we listening to this invitation? What can we do about it?

CPT Co-Director's Memorial Statement

CPT Co-Directors' statement at memorial service for Gene Stoltzfus
Goshen, Indiana, USA
April 11, 2010

Gene Stoltzfus nurtured and shaped Christian Peacemaker Teams from the beginning. He was there at Techny Towers, CPT's founding gathering, almost 25 years ago. By the way, we're going to have an anniversary gathering in this area next fall--stay tuned. Did you know the key role that Gene played, assuring that that meeting was leavened with active, engaged, gutsy peacemakers?

As director for the first 16 years of CPT's organizational life, Gene's vision, ideas, and organizational initiatives laid a strong foundation for our present work.  His style, faith, humor, strengths, shortcomings and quirks are also embedded in CPT. During Gene's tenure as director, CPT went from:
- a dream and a dialog about more active peacemaking,
- to hosting the occasional short trainings and actions,
- to sustaining and supporting full-time field teams with hundreds of trained, active CPTers working in partnership with local peacemakers in conflict zones across the globe.

Gene's hand remains so very evident:
- in CPT's training and deployment of longer-term, diverse, disciplined and empowered teams,
- in team and office meals and shared check ins,
- in CPT's creative direct action to reduce violence and highlight injustice,
- in patterns of prayer and mutual support sending each other out truly blessed,
- in CPT's attentiveness to exposing privilege and undoing oppression, and
- in CPT's deep roots of connection throughout the Church, which is in-turn transformed into a hotbed of peacemaking.

Gene brought tremendous energy, courage and commitment to the work of Christian peacemaking. Thank you.  Thank you to all of you who were part of raising up and supporting Gene--peacemaker, organizer, leader.

Thank you to those who shaped his clear thinking and decisiveness…  whether he practiced it challenging you and your part in holding the system in place, or you were the one who challenged him for his.

Dorothy, we honour you, and extend to you our deep, deep gratitude and heartfelt care.  You were also part of the organizing of CPT from the beginning.  Though you stepped back from public roles in CPT during the years of Gene's directorship, we recognize that your ongoing support, and your gracious strong wisdom, are also woven through CPT in ways that are very hard to differentiate from Gene's, because they were given largely through your strong strong support of Gene as he thought through and implemented this peacemaking initiative. You and Gene crafted your life together as a committed loving couple in a way that uniquely and intentionally freed each other up for active peacemaking.  Thank you, Dorothy.  Be infused with the healing Light of Love in this transition.

Gene saw a military culture worldwide and asked how the church could create a counter-culture. Gene saw in us, and helped us become, competent, capable peacemakers; sharing, nurturing, and learning from many similar groups around the world. Gene held out for us a vision of a world free from war and the justifying of war. Gene successfully passed on that vision to a new generation of CPTers.

To honour Gene today, on behalf of CPT, we repeat the challenge that I'm sure you have heard before from Gene: “What are you doing to carry forward this vision of a world without war or oppression? Are you speaking the truth today? This is God calling.”

I am not sure that "Rest in Peace" really fits for Gene. Perhaps he is already organizing the Celestial Peacemaker Teams. Thank-you Gene. We miss you.

Memorial Messages

GENE STOLTZFUS: 1940-2010, PRESENTE!

Gene Stoltzfus

CPT invites family, friends, and supporters from around the world to share messages and stories in memory of Gene.   Post your comment at the very bottom of the page.

George Weber

Reservist George Weber was killed in a car accident 6 January 2003 while serving with CPT in Iraq.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kathleen Namphy

Reservist Kathy Namphy died 22 August 2004 while hiking the mountains of Iran. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rose Whiteside

Reservist Rose Whiteside died of cancer on 23 November 2005.RoseWhiteside

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sue Rhodes

Full-timer Sue Rhodes died of cancer 30 November 2003 after serving for over a year in Hebron.SueRhodes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tom Fox

Tom joined CPT in 2004 and worked with the Iraq and Palestine projects. He was known for his deep commitment to nonviolence and his belief in the power of love to overcome violence. Tom went to Iraq to work for justice and dignity for Iraqis. He was abducted in Baghdad on November 26, 2005, with three other CPTers, and his body was found March 10, 2006.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Staff Support Team

The Support Team -- what most organizations call staff -- provides administrative and program support for teams in the field.

 

Steering Committee

CPT's Steering Committee functions as the board of directors and has general oversite of CPT's programs and operations. It is composed of:

  • Representatives from CPT's officially sponsoring groups and denominations
  • Representatives from CPT's Peacemaker Corps
  • Supporters who bring a group balance of skills and voice from their communities

 

MEMBERS

  • Tony Brown -- Mennonite Church USA
  • Adriana Cabrera-Velásquez -- At-large member
  • Eloy García -- Peacemaker Corps Representative
  • Omar Harami -- At-large member
  • Maureen Jack-- Peacemaker Corps Representative
  • Rachel Long -- Church of the Brethren
  • Rafael Lopera -- Congregation of St. Basil
  • Susan Mark Landis -- Mennonite Church USA
  • Phil Miller -- Church of the Brethren (On Earth Peace)
  • Eric Olfert -- Mennonite Church Canada
  • Paul Pierce -- CPT's Peacemaker Corps
  • Janet Plenert -- Mennonite Church Canada
  • Wilson Tan -- At-large member
  • Sarah Thompson -- At-large member
  • Brian Young -- Friends United Meeting

"Getting in the Way"

"Getting in the Way," CPT's motto, has multiple meanings.

Violence Reduction: Getting in the Way of violence. CPT intervenes in situations of violence.

Discipleship: Getting in the Way of (entering) the path of discipleship of Jesus. Early followers of Jesus referred to their movement as the Way.

An Inter-relatedness between the two: by entering the path -- getting in the way -- of peacemaking discipleship, we are led to proactively intervene and get in the way of violence. And by intervening in violence, we discover deeper meanings of discipleship.

 

Gene Stoltzfus, director emeritus of CPT, reflects...

In the early period of Christian Peacemaker Teams we wanted to find a simple phrase, sentence or saying that could represent our experiment in peacemaking. On more than several occasions in the field, in the Steering Committee, and in ad hoc groups we brain stormed words or phrases.

We continued our peacemaking work expecting that somewhere in our engagement with the broken stuff of our world, a phrase growing directly from experience, would become apparent to all of us. Eleven years after the vision for teams of Christian Peacemakers was first articulated at a Mennonite World Conference and seven years after we began program work, the result of our quest began to make itself known. The answer was simple, engaging and connected to a long religious and spiritual history. When we found it, there was no further debate on this subject. It seemed so right, "Getting in the Way".

The year was 1995. The place was Hebron in the Palestinian West Bank. A major massacre of Palestinians had occurred there, at a site important to Jews and Muslims, a site where Abraham and Sarah are entombed. In response to the mayor's invitation and the advice of local people, a CPT project began in mid year. All of us in CPT were finding our way, testing methods to act and to prevent violence. We knew, for example, Israeli settlers threatened Palestinian school children and we began to look for ways to be with them in a presence of protection.

On November 4, CPTer, Wendy Lehman on one of her first field assignments and a new delegation participant, Dianne Roe went out to accompany children at the Cordoba Elementary School. As Dianne stood talking to some teenage girls at the school, several settlers pushed her to the ground and kicked her. The settler youth also attacked the students, dragging them by their hair. Twenty minutes later a settler armed with an Uzi threatened Wendy, Dianne and other CPTers. On the same afternoon 80 settlers blocked the road where students walked to and from their school. November 4 was a tumultuous day. That same evening an Israeli militant shot and killed Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

A week after all these events, Dianne was back in Corning, NY reporting to her home church when a women in her congregation asked, "Why didn't you just get out of the way so you wouldn't be hurt?" The option had never occurred to Dianne since in violence reduction you don't just get out of the way whenever there is a threat to your personal safety.

Some time later, Dianne was invited to create a banner for an international conference organized by Sabeel, a Palestinian Christian group seeking a just peace for the region The conference organizers wanted to incorporate the notion of Way, an early name for Christians. The main feature of the banner was feet in worn sandals. Dianne used a photograph of Wendy's feet as a model. The feet of CPTer Sister Anne Montgomery also contributed to the final banner. After a discussion with conference organizers the phrase, GETTING IN THE WAY, was superimposed on the feet.

When I saw the banner during a visit to Jerusalem some time later, I immediately remembered our long search for a phrase that could describe CPT. In a Bible class years earlier I studied the Way (Acts 9:2), a word that appears frequently in the New Testament and actually is part of the grounding of other world religions. In Islam, Sharia law hints at the notion of a Way. Buddhism speaks of the Middle Way, a path of moderation between the extremes of asceticism and sensual indulgence. I inquired at Sabeel for permission to use the banner drawing and the phrase. They agreed, and we began to test out our signature phrase, GETTING IN THE WAY.

My primary conviction and enthusiasm for rooting ourselves in the basic language of Way was that it reaches to the foundational threads of Christianity, to the stories of Jesus himself and his immediate followers who combined words, healing, confrontation, public discourse, suffering and possible death at the village and urban level, and at the personal and political level - all as an inherent part of the journey. This is a perfect place from which to launch the project of violence reduction.

GETTING IN THE WAY implies that there is a way. It's a way that requires healthy feet, and clear convictions nurtured in the spirit and it leads through villages and cities, across oceans, mountains and rivers. It incorporates a persistent spirit that is not seduced by the twin diversions of either compulsive activism or unengaged living.

THE SPIRIT OF THE WAY suggests that the person on the pathway will not easily veer off course or look backward, tempted by power, wealth, or security. The Way knows that in the real world, people will encounter words, other people and systems that can pull them down or off the path - "benign" racist statements, little lies, killing of innocents and non innocents, organized violence, hatred, destruction of nature. People of the Way learn to use their minds to develop careful strategies. Their bodies are engaged and their spirits link with the power of God throughout the whole universe.

GETTING IN THE WAY implies a quality of collective work and decision making that still retains flexibility for an individuality that is not bound by short term ego needs. This way has unexpected opportunities for transformation, surprise and miracles as well as occasional impediments and obstacles.

PEOPLE OF THIS WAY are not looking to be saved by the power of the nation state and its military. In a press release about the settler attacks in 1995 Wendy Lehman summed up the components of Getting in the Way as it came to her that day in Hebron, "I've certainly learned a lot about the power of prayer and its interconnectedness with action. Our work here involves risk, and we sometimes put ourselves in situations where we have only our faith in God, the power of nonviolence, each other and our Hebronite hosts to keep us safe. Without the prayer support of our friends back home, I'm not sure we could do it."

PEOPLE IN THE WAY practice a form of mellow long term militancy that is armed with a special literacy to read the signs of the times. Whether the message is joyful or ominous we invoke the power of God in celebration.

Frequent Questions

1. Who are CPTers and how did they get involved with CPT?
2. How do I join?
3. Do I have to be a Christian to join?
4. How many people are in CPT?
5. What qualifications and training do CPTers have?

6. Who supports CPT, and where do you get your money?
7. How are CPTers compensated?
8. How much does your work cost?
9. Who are your teams accountable to?

10. Isn't your work dangerous?
11. Do you only work in countries outside the USA and Canada?
12. How do you decide where to go, and when to leave?
13. Why aren't you working in…?
14. Why are you so anti-US?

15. I can't join CPT, is there something else I can do?
16. Is there a local CPT group I can connect with?
17. What good is a CPT delegation, and why should I go on one?

18. What have you accomplished, and what difference do you make?
19. Is CPT a missionary organization?
20. Aren't you duplicating the work of other groups?
21. What good is a CPT prayer vigil or other symbolic public witness?
22. Isn't violence inevitable in any society?

 

1. Who are CPTers and how did they get involved?

CPTers started out by participating in a short-term CPT delegation, open to anyone with a commitment to nonviolence. CPTers are ordinary people from diverse backgrounds. They are students, clergy, engineers, homemakers, administrators, teachers, retired elders, farmers, nurses, academics, auto mechanics, veteran activists, and those newly on the road of active peacemaking. These CPTer profiles introduce a few CPTers and describe how they got involved.

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2. How do I join?

First you need to go on a short-term CPT delegation. Afterward, if CPT is a good fit, you will fill out an application to join the Peacemaker Corps - the group that staffs our projects. The next step is training, which is a continuation of the application process. Mutual discernment between CPT and the trainee regarding acceptance into the Peacemaker Corps occurs at the end of the training period. Contact us for more information or to talk to someone about this process. Click to Join a Delegation.
Delegation -> Application -> Training

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3. Do I have to be a Christian to join?

No.  CPT welcomes both peacemakers who are committed to the nonviolent community of Christ, and other people of faith/spirituality, who seek God’s will in their work, worship, and decision-making.  CPT does not have a "litmus test" to determine whether someone is a Christian.  On project sites, CPT works enthusiastically with local partners from a variety of faith traditions, and we encourage the formation and development of other faith-based, nonviolent peace teams.  CPT delegations are open to anyone, regardless of faith commitment.  Read our “Statement  on Identity and Membership.”

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4. How many people are in CPT?

CPT has around 40 full-time peacemakers and nearly 200 part-time volunteers who serve in violence-reduction projects around the world. This work is supported by a Steering Committee (board of directors) whose members represent organizations and denominations officially sponsoring CPT. Both full-time and part-time members serve for three years. For the full-timers, serving on CPT project locations is their job. Part-timers commit to serve at least two weeks a year for three years.

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5. What qualifications and training do CPTers have?

CPTers are people of faith committed to nonviolence, willing to take personal risk in the work of front-lines peacemaking and violence-reduction, and able to work as healthy members of a team in high stress environments. Prospective CPTers first participate in a short-term delegation, and then attend a month-long intensive live-in training program. The training includes modules on violence-defusing role plays, interpersonal conflict transformation, security in war zones, the biblical basis for peacemaking, undoing racism and sexism, work-style profiles, and much more.

CPTers enter this work with a deep spiritual grounding and commitment to nonviolence. All applicants submit a personal statement and sign a statement of responsibility in which they agree to accept the risks involved in entering a conflict zone.

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6. Who supports CPT, and where do you get your money?

We rely on your prayers and donations. Christian Peacemaker Teams was founded in 1984 by three historic peace churches, Mennonite, Church of the Brethren and Quaker, and now enjoys support and membership from a wide range of Christian denominations, including Catholics, Baptists and Presbyterians. A range of denominations and groups are official sponsors. Thousands of individuals and hundreds of congregations make up by far the largest percentage of financial support. CPT receives a smaller percentage from grants and foundations. CPT does not accept money from any government or governmental agency. All CPTers fund-raise within their communities to support their peace ministry. We provide this financial summary of our income and expenses.

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7. How are CPTers compensated?

Our stipended workers (Full and Part-Time) receive a monthly subsistence support stipend to cover basic needs.  Reservists commit to fundraise a specific amount to cover the costs of their ministry.  Reservists are also responsible for their own health insurance expenses.

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8. How much does your work cost?

We estimate it costs US$15,000 each year to support one full-time field worker. While this may seem high, we note that the U.S., Canada and the UN spend roughly US$150,000 or Cdn$220,000 per soldier per year to maintain a war-fighting or "peace-keeping" capability. CPT's over-all budget is around US$1 million. We are able to keep costs down, because CPTers choose to live simply and stipends are based on what will cover their needs, rather than on what would support a middle-class lifestyle.  Read our Annual Financial Report.

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9. To whom are your teams accountable?

Teams are accountable to their local partners and inviting bodies, and to the whole of CPT through a twice-yearly review of their work by the CPT Steering Committee (board of directors). The Steering Committee is made up of representatives from groups and denominations that are official sponsors of CPT, some at-large members, and representatives from CPT's Peacemaker Corps.

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10. Isn't your work dangerous?

Sometimes - operating in conflict zones can be risky. But we believe that until Christians are willing to devote the same discipline and sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that soldiers dedicate to war-making, violence will always prevail. That said, most of the time CPTers engage in the rewarding work of relationship-building - drinking tea, sharing meals, making friends.

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11. Do you only work in countries outside the US and Canada?

No. CPT is currently based in the US and Canada and we see all too clearly the many systems of violence and injustice operating in these countries. CPT's goal is to have at least one violence reduction project in both the US and Canada.

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12. How do you decide where to go, and when to leave?

CPT places teams in conflict areas only if we have established a relationship with a trusted welcoming group. Sometimes CPT initiates contact with local peacemakers to let them know about our work. Usually a delegation or staff will visit an area and learn about the situation. We look for conflicts in which an international presence can provide protection and expand the space for local peacebuilders to do their work. When a situation becomes so unstable that violence rages out of control, CPT's work may become less effective. If the presence of CPTers is endangering local peacebuilders, we leave. CPT empowers teams on project locations to determine when they should evacuate an area.

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13. Why aren't you working in…?

CPT is a relatively small organization and we don't have the capacity to respond to the majority of the conflicts in the world. We wish we did.  CPT started with a vision that some day there would be a 100,000-strong force of Christian peacemakers who could nonviolently intervene in lethal conflict.  We think the world would be a very different place if peacemaking were multiplied by thousands of small teams of disciplined teams.

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14. Why are you so anti-U.S.?

We aren't. In fact, most CPTers are from the United States, and wish that the U.S. would consistently live up to the ideals of justice and freedom it proudly proclaims. Sadly, U.S. actions at home and throughout the world have run counter to these ideals, and as responsible world citizens and citizens of the Kingdom of God, we need to confront those roots of violence that grow within the United States. CPTers who are U.S. citizens are uniquely positioned, and have a responsibility, to speak to U.S. decision-makers about the violence that results from U.S. actions.

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15. I can't join CPT, is there something else I can do?

Absolutely. We rely on your prayers, on your sharing with others about our work, and your financial support. You can:

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16. Is there a local group I can connect with?

CPT has Regional Groups with which you might connect. Regional Groups are built around a core of trained CPTers and CPT supporters who work to reduce violence both in their local regions and by supporting or serving on already-established CPT projects. If a Regional Group exists in your area, don't hesitate to become involved.

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17. What good is a CPT delegation, and why should I go on one?

Our short-term delegations to project locations are an encouragement to local peace workers. Short term delegations can engage in important dialogue or nonviolent witness that might be difficult or impossible for a long term team to do. Delegates provide important advice for ongoing program activities because of the fresh eyes and ears that participants bring to the situation. When they tell their stories back home they augment the voices for justice. Delegations can have a profound effect on participants, and have forged transformative relationships. Click to Join a Delegation.

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18. What have you accomplished, and what difference do you make?

While this question is hard to answer with numerical data, we can point to many cases in which violence decreased and policies improved becuase of the presence of CPT and other similar groups. We know that we have prevented deaths and deterred violence because we have stopped armed groups from acting. We know that the people with whom we work tell us they are safer because of our presence and work. We know that CPT's work has expanded the "space" for local peacemakers to pursue their already-inspiring peace work. And even when the results of our work seem disappointing at times, we know that we are called to be faithful and not necessarily effective.

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19. Is CPT a missionary organization?

No. CPT is a peacemaking organization focused on reducing violence and protecting human rights in conflict zones. While CPTers have chosen to follow Jesus Christ, they do not proselytize. We do, however, have many opportunities to share the basis of our own faith and our understanding of Jesus' call to peacemaking.

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20. Aren't you duplicating the work of other groups?

Not really. Most Christian organizations are concerned with church planting, economic development or peace education. We are one of only a few groups with a mission to place trained peace workers in explosive situations to do "third party nonviolent intervention." We are regularly in touch with these sister groups and encourage one another and cooperate. We are wholly supportive when other peace teams do similar work because the need is so great.

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21. What good is a CPT prayer vigil or other symbolic public witness?

We believe in the power of prayer to transform lives and structures. A prayer vigil or other public witness brings the search for truth into the public place. A prayer vigil or public witness simply tries to connect the word of God with the search for truth in a symbolic way. We believe Jesus witnessed publically in a prophetic critique of the social, political, religious and economic structures of his time. In this tradition of Jesus - a tradition carried on by Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Badshah Khan, and many, many others - CPT organizes and encourages nonviolent public witness, sometimes called "nonviolent direct action," as a method of social transformation towards an envisioned Reign of God. We believe we must take our Christian faith from the pews to the public space. Public witness is an intentional way of offering our peace perspective to the wider community.

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22. Isn't violence inevitable?

This question is debated by anthropologists. Violence is a fundamental part of most contemporary societies. But must it be that way? Without the efforts of peacemakers, that violence might be more vicious, or transform itself into crusades of violence as occurred in Christianity during the Middle Ages. Our experience is that violence can be disarmed with the witness to peace, truth, love and justice. The willingness to give life instead of taking life has immense transforming power, as Jesus Christ has demonstrated when he sacrificed himself for others.

The human race has had thousands of years and trillions of dollars to develop increasingly destructive forms of warfare in the pursuit of peace and security. This has clearly failed. Now is the time to redirect our energies and resources to alternative ways, to Jesus' way, of achieving peace and security.

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History

In 1984, Ron Sider challenged the Mennonite World Conference in Strasbourg, France with these words:

 

Over the past 450 years of martyrdom, immigration and missionary proclamation, the God of shalom has been preparing us Anabaptists for a late twentieth-century rendezvous with history. The next twenty years will be the most dangerous—and perhaps the most vicious and violent—in human history. If we are ready to embrace the cross, God’s reconciling people will profoundly impact the course of world history . . . This could be our finest hour. Never has the world needed our message more. Never has it been more open. Now is the time to risk everything for our belief that Jesus is the way to peace. If we still believe it, now is the time to live what we have spoken.

“We must take up our cross and follow Jesus to Golgotha. We must be prepared to die by the thousands. Those who believed in peace through the sword have not hesitated to die. Proudly, courageously, they gave their lives. Again and again, they sacrificed bright futures to the tragic illusion that one more righteous crusade would bring peace in their time, and they laid down their lives by the millions.

“Unless we . . . are ready to start to die by the thousands in dramatic vigorous new exploits for peace and justice, we should sadly confess that we never really meant what we said, and we dare never whisper another word about pacifism to our sisters and brothers in those desperate lands filled with injustice. Unless we are ready to die developing new nonviolent attempts to reduce conflict, we should confess that we never really meant that the cross was an alternative to the sword . . .

Read the full text   |   Listen to the speech

 

In the mid-1980s, members of the historic peace churches were seeking new ways to express their faith. “Low-intensity” wars had broken out in many places including Central America, and the U. S. government usually sided with the elite groups and oppressive systems in these conflicts. Also emerging in that period was a consciousness that by using the creative energy of organized nonviolence, ordinary people could stand in front of the weapons and encourage less violent ways for change to happen.

Thus, Sider’s call contributed to vigorous conversations in churches across North America. In 1986, these discussions culminated in a late fall gathering at the suburban Chicago retreat center owned by the Society of the Divine Word in Techny. God granted a spirit of unity to the gathering of 100 persons and a call went out for the formation of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT.) Representative denominations appointed a steering committee to hammer out basic directions and invited Gene Stoltzfus to begin work as the first staff person in 1988.

By 1992, CPT had put together a series of delegations to Haiti, Iraq, and the West Bank, but members of the organization still felt the need for trained full-time corps of people to work in crisis regions. The Steering Committee thus set a goal to develop a Christian Peacemaker Corps of twelve full-time persons—who would receive stipends comparable to those provided by other voluntary service organizations -- with a much larger number of reservists who would donate their time and resources. By the end of 1998, when the organization finally reached the goal of a twelve-person Christian Peacemaker Corps, it had set-up and staffed violence-reduction projects in Haiti; Washington, DC; Richmond, VA; Hebron, West Bank; Bosnia; and Chiapas, Mexico

Word spread about CPT’s creative work in the field of nonviolence. Groups in urban areas of North America, Native peoples, and numerous third or fourth world churches contacted CPT to explore the possibility of setting up their own regional CPT groups of workers trained in violence reduction. During a 2000 full timers’ retreat at CPTer Cliff Kindy’s Joyfield Farm, CPT full timers and key constituents agreed that CPT should work toward the development of local groups of trained reservists. To accomplish this objective, CPT would adapt the three and a half week training component of CPT for local settings to connect with traditional styles of nonviolent change present in every culture. As of 2007, CPT has regional groups in Cleveland; the Boulder, CO, area; Washington, DC; the Winnipeg, MB area; Northern Indiana, and southern Ontario. Regional groups are developing in the United Kingdom and Minnesota.

The participants at the Joyfield Farm retreat hoped that the regional groups would help CPT deploy larger teams to crisis regions. However, the CPT experience has demonstrated that small teams of four to six people trained in the skills of documentation, observation, nonviolent intervention, and various ministries of presence can make a striking difference in explosive situations.

Initially sponsored by the two largest North American Mennonite denominations and the Church of the Brethren, as of 2007 CPT has gained the additional sponsorship of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, the Congregation of St. Basil (Basilians), Every Church a Peace Church, Friends United Meeting, On Earth Peace, and the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. Most of CPT’s support comes from church members, congregations, and Friends meetings. As others join this movement to find ways for justice to happen without killing, they will bring their own special gifts to build the work.

A larger, more ecumenical CPT will inspire Christians from all over the world to lay aside the weapons of destruction usually controlled by the mighty. With Jesus’ help and inspiration, these CPTers will show that the power for transforming conflicts is a miracle available to all of humankind.

Mission Statement

"Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) offers an organized, nonviolent alternative to war and other forms of lethal inter-group conflict. CPT provides organizational support to persons committed to faith-based nonviolent alternatives in situations where lethal conflict is an immediate reality or is supported by public policy. CPT seeks to enlist the response of the whole church in conscientious objection to war, and in the development of nonviolent institutions, skills and training for intervention in conflict situations. CPT projects connect intimately with the spiritual lives of constituent congregations. Gifts of prayer, money and time from these churches undergird CPT’s peacemaking ministries."

"We believe that the mandate to proclaim the Gospel of repentance, salvation and reconciliation includes a strengthened Biblical peace witness.

"We believe that faithfulness to what Jesus taught and modeled calls us to more active peacemaking.

"We believe that a renewed commitment to the Gospel of Peace calls us to new forms of public witness which may include nonviolent direct action."

- CPT founding conference: Techny, Illinois,  December 1986

Related Nonviolent Intervention Groups

CPT is part of a growing movement of Third Party Nonviolent Intervention (TPNI) organizations placing internationals in the midst of conflict to reduce violence. Each organization structures its work and focus differently but share the same goal: reduce violence through advocacy networks and an international presence where violence is happening. CPT is one of the few explicitly faith-based organizations.

Statement of Identity

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) is an organization gathered in the reconciling love of God, identified with Jesus of Nazareth and led by the Spirit.  Renouncing violence and dominative power, CPT seeks the Gospel liberation of all people through the power of forgiveness and nonviolence.  This Gospel identity is embodied in our struggle to build an organizational culture of justice, inclusion, mutual respect and welcome. We are committed to building organizational structures that reflect the rich diversity of the human family in ability, age, class, ethnicity, gender identity, language, national origin, race and sexual orientation.


On project sites, CPT works with local partners from a variety of faith traditions.  CPT encourages the formation and development of other faith-based, nonviolent peace teams and desires to work cooperatively with them.

Supporting Groups

CPT is guided by a Steering Committee (Board of Directors) of representatives from the officially-endorsing agencies and groups below. Is your organization called to consider sponsorship?

 

Denominations

Organizations

Sponsoring CPT: an Invitation

I. Introduction

God created humankind and blessed them [Genesis 5:2]. God promised blessing when Israel would observe the Jubilee prescriptions, eliminating the classes of those who would be permanently poor. [Deuteronomy 15:4]. Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.." [Matthew 5:9] Jesus' blessing of peacemakers confirms the renewal of God's good creation and the intention that God's creatures would live in just and right relationships with each other and with their Creator. For Jesus to call peacemakers children of God confirms their deepest identity, their original identity. Jesus' blessing of peacemakers assures confidence and security in the hard work of making peace and renewing creation. Christian Peacemaker Teams are nurtured out of the prophetic tradition that culminated in the public ministry of Jesus and his followers.

 

II. Invitation to participate in CPT

A. Who may wish to participate as church and groups?

Sponsorship of CPT is open to denominations, Christian communities, religious orders, and Christian organizations who wish to engage in all levels of a spiritually-based work of peacemaking based in Jesus' way of active nonviolence. Term lengths are determined by sponsoring denominations/groups. Invited to consider sponsorship of CPT are:
  • Spiritual groups who seek to act out the work of Christian peacemaking in the Spirit of Jesus.
  • Groups of Christians who have a special call to peacemaking.
  • Groups of Christians who are already working to build peace and can gain strength from affiliating with CPT.
  • Groups of Christians who lack monetary resources but are blessed with wide margins of talent for creative engagement and are prepared to join in the disciplines of peacemaking.
  • Groups of Christians with significant monetary resources whose call is to support those who lack funds but have great talent.

B. What can participating groups do to support CPT?

  • Promote CPT among constituent parishes and churches, in publications and meetings.
  • Sponsor participants on CPT delegations, the CPT Reserve Corps, the CPT Peacemaker Corps, and the CPT staff.
  • Use CPT web resources and e-mail alerts, and respond to prayer requests and urgent actions.
  • Provide advice and encouragement during times of emergency when CPT teams are facing difficult decisions.
  • Contribute toward the CPT budget and encourage financial support for CPT from individuals, congregations, and organizational units.
  • Encourage the ministry of public witness, nonviolent direct action, and, when necessary, civil disobedience.

III. Participation in CPT

CPT is an ecumenical program, founded by representatives of Mennonite, Brethren, and Quaker faith traditions. CPT is guided by a steering committee comprised of members appointed by these churches/meetings and additional members from other sponsoring churches or groups. Churches and church peace fellowship groups formally committed to Jesus' nonviolent way of the Cross are invited to be recognized as "CPT Sponsors" and to nominate persons for appointment to open positions on the steering committee.

A. Opportunities and responsibilities of CPT Sponsors:

  • Before seeking recognition as CPT Sponsors, interested groups will sponsor one or more Corps members or Reservists from their group and participate in CPT programs, including special training programs, for at least two years.
  • CPT Sponsors are encouraged to reflect on ways peacemaking can be deepened within their groups in such a way as to elicit the personal gifts and financial support of their members at large.
  • When a church or group expresses interest in participation as a CPT Sponsor, its financial participation will be discussed and agreed upon as a part of the discernment in its relationship with CPT.
  • During the period of discernment concerning the participation of a church or group as a CPT Sponsor, the group may be invited to send a representative to attend a meeting or meetings of the CPT steering committee as a non-voting participant to enhance the church or group's understanding of the work of CPT.
  • The status of CPT sponsors will be reviewed every three years.

IV. Extending the Invitation

  • After a church or group has been involved in discerning sponsorship of CPT, the CPT Steering Committee will review the church or group's participation, and, subject to the concurrence of all parties, recommend an invitation to join the CPT movement.

 

Interested in exploring this possibility? Contact Carol Rose, Co-Director of CPT at carolr@cpt.org