Christians urged to answer biblical call to peacemaking

American Christians must answer the biblical call to peacemaking and help write “a good ending to this season in history,” said Bob Roberts, co-founder of the Multi-Faith Neighbors Network.

“We are living in one of those hinge moments in history that comes around about every hundred years. And we have to make the right decisions. We have to do the right thing,” said Roberts, who was the founding pastor of Northlake Church in Keller and the GlocalNet church starting initiative.

The current volatile situation is both global and national, he emphasized.

“When we look at the world, we’d better value peacemaking,” said Roberts, president of the Institute for Global Engagement.

The church has a vital—if often-neglected—role to play in making peace, he emphasized.

 “We need to be speaking up. But I fear that what is happening is we are being caught up in the hysteria along with everyone else. And as a result, we have not much to offer,” Roberts said.

Historically, the church has been seen as a uniting influence, he observed.

“Now, we are seen by many as a divider,” he lamented.

Build personal relationships

Christians can take an important step on the peacemaking journey by fostering relationships with their neighbors from other faith traditions, seeing them as “people created in the image of God,” Roberts said.

Next, Christians and people of other faiths can build relationships by working together on service projects that promote the common good and fit their mutual interests, he suggested.

Once the relationships are established and trust is built, Christians and non-Christians can “talk about the hard topics” in a respectful manner, he added.

Recently, the Multi-Faith Neighbors Network developed a Peacemaker’s Toolkit for faith leaders. It includes a biblical and theological framework for peacemaking, and it presents multiple peacemaking scenarios with questions to explore and suggestions for navigating difficult conversations.

Roberts noted John Thielepape, director of projects at the Multi-Faith Neighbors Network and former director of missions for Parker Baptist Association, spent two years researching and spearheading the development of the toolkit.

The toolkit offers church leaders a framework for developing a proactive response to polarization and provides practical resources for peacemaking, he noted. It is suited both to individual use and small-group study, he added.

“It equips ministers to see a role for themselves in peacemaking,” he said.

‘Love your enemies’

American evangelicals in general and Baptists in particular haven’t always placed a high value on peacemaking, but it is a central theme of the Bible and vitally important to believers who suffer from violence and persecution, Roberts said.

“Peacemaking matters to the church in Indonesia. Peacemaking matters to the church in Palestine. Peacemaking matters to the Christians in Sudan. And if we are passionate evangelicals, peacemaking ought to be everything for us as well,” he said.

“It’s the core and the essence of the gospel. … We’ve been given this radical command by Jesus, ‘Love your enemy.’ If you’re going to love your enemy, you’re in the peacemaking business.”

Begin with kindness, respect and humility, he suggested.

“A peacemaker doesn’t trash other people,” Roberts said, noting the difference between challenging ideas and demeaning people.

Christians also need to acknowledge and deal with divisions in their own ranks, he noted, speaking as a lifelong Southern Baptist.

“I grieve over how we treat one another with such disrespect and how we vilify one another. We treat one another like trash over secondary issues,” Roberts said.

“We need to take a deep breath and just deal with our own house.”