Programs & Projects

Community Change for Congregations

April 15-18, 2010 - Thurs 4pm-Sun 4pm

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Program leadership: Matt Guynn, Samuel Sarpiya, and On Earth Peace team

Hosted by Harrisburg First Church of the Brethren

Download Event Flyer in PDF Format

Efforts to improve the community - reduce violence - build peace - all too often dry up or get stopped along the way.

If you believe God yearns for more peace and less violence — and you want your congregation to have a spiritually powerful ministry for justice and peace, focused on real change in the community — Join us for You Can't Stop the River.

Why "You Can't Stop the River?"
Many congregations are ready to take a next step in community outreach and leadership for justice and peace, but aren’t sure what’s next. What does proactive, hopeful action look like?   Efforts to improve the community - reduce violence - build peace - all too often dry up or get stopped along the way.  

If you believe God yearns for more peace and less violence — and you want your congregation to have a powerful ministry for justice and peace, focused on real change in the community — Join us for You Can't Stop the River.

Summary/Report of You Can't Stop the River 2009

Goals

• Build skills and confidence for community leadership
• Worship together and study scripture as a source of strength for community change
• Explore the history & philosophy of nonviolent community organizing and mobilization
• Reflect on the experience you bring and exchange stories and wisdom with others
• With God’s help, prepare plans for what happens next in your community

Who should come?
Ideal participants are people ready to move into action when they get home. They come from congregations that feel urgent about addressing violence and injustice with the innocence of doves and the cunning of serpents.

We recommend a team of 2-4 people from each participating congregation.  Why teams? Many individuals attend training events only to arrive home with no support or accountability for implementing their new skills and ideas. We believe that going through this process as a group will lay a foundation for support and success when you get home

What to expect

The weekend will be highly participatory.  The seminar includes activities focused on getting rooted in your community, understanding the forces at play, building a sense of biblical/theological aspects of the work to reduce violence and increase peace, and examining change efforts in a strategic perspective (what kinds of things need to happen first – second – third; how to get others excited and involved, etc).  Participants will examine what takes to develop a specific, focused effort for nonviolent change, connecting what we learn to experiences back at home.  Build on what you know, practice spirituality + skills + strategy, and take your community ministries to the next level!

A common frame of reference for community change will come from exploring the Principles and Steps for nonviolent community reconciliation used in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.  Time will be provided to plan for proactive, hopeful action when you get home.

Our time will combine the practical and the prayerful. While together, we will practice prayer and other activities designed to help build spiritual power for change. As Christians, we are at our best when we are ourselves in powerful contact with God’s healing, and can bring that power to our community work

Workshop Setting

The Harrisburg First Church of the Brethren has been serving the South Allison Hill neighborhood of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania since its founding in 1896. This neighborhood has the highest density between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh of low-income single parent families, with many children and youth.  This ethnically diverse neighborhood is a constantly changing community.  The multicultural mix has seen Cubans, Mexicans and Puerto Ricans added to the African American and European American neighborhood with South East Asians, Indonesians, North Africans and Sub-Saharan Africans having been added more recently.  First Church, with its two Sunday worship services, weekday prayer meetings, and its many community ministries, serves and seeks to reach this neighborhood with the message of God's love in Jesus Christ.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Revelation 22

Program Leadership

Matt Guynn is program director and coordinator for congregational organizing for On Earth Peace, equipping peace and nonviolence leadership within church congregations across the United States. Matt incorporates music, the arts and prayer into his work as a writer, educator, and preacher.  He previously served as co-coordinator of training for Christian Peacemaker Teams, and was part of CPT’s project in Chiapas, Mexico, providing unarmed accompaniment for political refugees. For the last fifteen years, he has been part of Training for Change, an international social change training center based in Philadelphia, PA.  Matt lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife Sarah Kinsel. Matt is European American.

Samuel Kefas Sarpiya is currently a Church Planter and Pastor for Rockford Community Church in Rockford, Illinois, where he lives with his wife & three girls.  Samuel is the coordinating organizer for a newly-formed group, Rockford Partners for Excellence, which addresses issues of poverty and racism in Rockford through creative community leadership.  Samuel previously served as a missionary with Youth With A Mission (YWAM University of the Nations) and Urban Frontiers Mission.  In YWAM he served as Course Facilitator, Community Development Program Coordinator, Computer System Administrator and Delegate to the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) as well as the UN Council on Indigenous Peoples Affairs. With Urban Frontiers Mission, Samuel served as Evangelism & Missions Director, helping to pioneer different Urban Ministries all over West Africa.  Samuel is a Nigerian-born South African national.

Logistics

Housing and food. Simple homestays will be provided in private homes.  Meals will be provided Thursday supper-Sunday lunch, including a vegetarian option.

Cost. $100 fee, plus a participant offering to be taken up while we are together. Participants are responsible for their own travel costs.  Some travel assistance and scholarships are available; please contact On Earth Peace.  No one will be turned away because of funds; we are committed to making this training available and building grassroots capacity.

Write a one-page letter including:

1. Tell your congregation’s story and how this training would support your ministries.
2. Describe your team.
3. Share why you want to come.

Ask your church leadership team for a letter of blessing (showing support from your congregation for the inspiration and skills you’ll bring home).

E-mail all this to us!  

Application deadline: March 15, 2010.

We will notify applicants within ten business days of receiving your application.

To register and for more information, contact:
Matt Guynn – coordinator of peace witness
mguynn@onearthpeace.org
503-775-1636

On Earth Peace provides skills, support, and a spiritual foundation to face violence with active nonviolence.  www.onearthpeace.org

 

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