Introduction: Blessed are the Peacemakers
Derek Poole

Comment
Mark Houston

From the Director
David Porter

Peacemaking
Arthur Chapman

Gentleness: An attribute of Peace
Graham Cheesman

A Long Road to Healing
David Porter

All Taigs are Targets
Neil Smart

God's Holy Warrior
Alwyn Thomson

Book Reviews
Alwyn Thomson David Porter

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A LONG ROAD TO HEALING
In recent years the term peacebuilding has found its way into the language of those concerned with peace, not just in Northern Ireland but around the world. It defines an activity that is not simply keeping the peace between hostile parties. Nor is it only the work of making peace through bringing agreement between those who are in conflict. Peacebuilding is the actions required to transform a society from conflict to long term peaceful relationships and structures.

The Christian Vision

As such it has a certain appeal to Christians. The biblical concept of peace is conveyed in the word shalom. Shalom is the purpose and gift of God for all of humankind. It embraces not just the idea of peace with God as a necessary remedy to our spiritual disorder, but God's concern for our personal and social well being and wholeness. It is the proper concern of biblical faith to see right relationships and just structures in place for the benefit of all.

Equally the command of Jesus to repent and the invitation to follow is but the start of a journey. Its goal is our final entry into the place where God dwells, the city in which there is no more death or crying, where the great tree stands whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. We are called to live in the light of this vision of the future. And whatever struggles exist in this world we are those who are being transformed through the renewing of our minds to be fit inheritors of this spiritual kingdom as the children of God.

While the New Testament leaves little room for us to escape our obligations to be people of peace, it is often difficult to see how this can be worked out in the situation we find ourselves facing. However we must remember that this was equally a challenge for the early church. Their world was as brutal and unforgiving as ours appears. The injunction to be peaceable is not some idealistic escapism but the costly imperative of being a follower of the prince of peace.

In what ways can we consider the idea of peacebuilding as being a helpful insight to our task of Christian witness in a world of conflict?

The Long View

There is only one revolution that will usher in the reign of peace and that is when Jesus comes. Until then, fired by that vision, it is the hard work of a building site, seeking to construct the kind of relationships and structures that allow peace to be nurtured and grow First we must understand that peace in this life is not a static state or condition, nor a particular stage of human existence that we reach. Peace involves the dynamic of relationships - in the family, in the church, in the community, and between nations. For the Christian it is a commitment to live at peace with all in so far as it depends on us.

Then because we five in a fallen world, we must understand that the nature of the peace we can enjoy in this life is always going to be imperfect. True peace does require justice. But justice can be frustrated and corrupted by sin and it is part of our suffering in a broken world that evil does appear to go unpunished. True peace does require reconciliation. But we all know that due to human pride often the best accommodation we can arrive at in relationships is to agree to co-exist in a state of mutual tolerance if not mutual respect.

Peacebuilding stresses the process of bringing peace about, taking steps that may at this stage appear small or inadequate, but which provide the dynamic that helps us move towards the ultimate goal. This requires vision, a long-term view of what a transformed society, community, family or church will look like. It is our vision that motivates us to make the investment of time and energy that is necessary now to address both the immediate and short term needs of a conflict situation.

As Christians we often expect of society what we know is not possible in ourselves. Our journey of discipleship is one of transformation, the day by day dealing with sin in our fives. So too in the social and political world. There is only one revolution that will usher in the reign of peace and that is when Jesus comes. Until then, fired by that vision, it is the hard work of a building site, seeking to construct the kind of relationships and structures that allow peace to be nurtured and grow.

The Big Picture

It is also important to understand what peace is not. It is not simply the absence of physical violence. The verbal abuse of the sectarian slogan is an act of intimidation and attack on our neighbour. The emotional blackmail of a family member is an aggressive manipulation of them in order to get our own way. And let us not forget the economic dominance of the multinational or of the developed world as a means of securing our prosperity at the expense of others. Of course physical violence, particularly killing, receives the strongest condemnation in scripture. But the law and the prophets are no more lenient on those who oppress their neighbour in social, economic and ethnic terms. Structural and corporate sin is as much the result of the fall and contribute to human violence as much as the acts of violence committed by individuals whether for their cause or for criminal intent.

Nor is peace simply the presence of good relationships. Many would claim that their best friends are Catholic or Protestant. Numerous events and encounters have been organised in Northern Ireland to bring children and adults from the two sides together as friends. Even where trust exists between friends, nationalists and unionists will continue to disagree on important issues. The potential for conflict is always there, and there will always remain those who exploit it with their violence.

Peacebuilding stresses that in order to bring about a peaceful society we must address all these concerns. Personal and structural, reconciliation and reconstruction are all part of the bigger picture of the transformation needed in a divided society. What the preacher does in addressing the need for personal conversion is the partner to the police officer upholding the law on the streets. Bringing together people across the sectarian divide is only the first step to reaching agreement on the political divisions. Working to help those in need is but a small gesture unless we work to remove the causes of deprivation.

For many Christians the gospel has become personalised at the expense of its radical and social implications. Psalm 85 could be described as the 'psalm of the peacebuilders'. Here is the breadth of God's concern for a society at ease with itself:

Mercy and truth will meet: justice and peace will kiss each other. (Verse 10 translated from Spanish.)

Commenting on this, John Paul Lederach, a Mennonite peacebuilder says:

Truth is the longing for acknowledgement of wrong and the validation of painful loss and experiences, but it is coupled with mercy, which articulates the need for acceptance, letting go, and a new beginning. Justice represents the search for individual and group rights, for social restructuring and restitution, but it is linked with peace, which underscores the need for interdependence, well being and security.

Finally we must remember that all of us in a conflict situation have responsibilities. It is too easy to focus on the politicians or the paramilitaries as being the only cause of or solution to our troubles. Conflict cannot be sustained without the nurture of the community it infects no more than peace can be built with just the agreement of the politicians. Peacebuilding stresses the need for us all to accept that a conflict that has gone on for so long has become part of us all. Where we live, who we socialise with, how we relate to those who don't share our religious convictions. All this has been part of our personal and community journey for generations, providing the soil in which the seed of sectarianism and hatred has taken root and grown.

Therefore to bring an end to conflict we all need to allow peacebuilding to become an integral part of our lives. The welcome of a republican or loyalist into our home, the commitment to be part of a sports club that draws its members from across the divide, the respectful engagement with our Catholic or Protestant neighbour on religious questions. All this must become part of our journey from antagonism to accommodation, from tragedy to transformation.

Peacebuilding is about transformation. Transformation in how individuals and groups handle their response to the conflict. Transformation in their relationships with the other parties to the conflict. This requires a commitment to address the issues of politics and power that have perpetuated our conflict for so long.

In all of this the experience of peacebuilding in our world suggests that it will take as long to build the peace as it did to wage the war. It will certainly take greater imagination and resources than most of us yet realise.

Jesus said: 'No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.' Luke 9:62

David Porter is Director of ECONI. In 1997 he completed an MA thesis on 'The Long Road to Peace: Lessons for Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland 1993-1996'.