This volume deals with the contexts of violence. In an age of increasing concern for this type of missionary work, the missions community needs to hear from those that have reflected on the multifaceted elements involved in understanding the phenomenon of martyrdom-persecution violence as it relates to telling the age-old Gospel story. The place to begin is with Biblical and theological analysis followed by the grounding provided by constructing consequent lifestyles, strategies and practices in physically risky settings. Finally, insights from the live settings of violence are warranted.
Christian mission has often been a project allied with colonial powers and conquests. Contemporary theologies of Christian mission, however, call for a new approach. In Eyes from the Outside, Kim Lamberty suggests using the metaphor of "accompaniment" to describe one such approach to Christian mission. She explores international protective accompaniment--eyes from the outside--as a constructive way to do Christian mission in conflict zones. Christian missionaries today frequently find themselves in isolated and poverty-stricken parts of the globe, places where violence is common. Based on a case study in Colombia, Eyes from the Outside argues that international protective accompaniment empowers communities, reduces the risk of violence, and corresponds with contemporary theologies of mission.
This book is humbly written, while craving the inspiration of God. I am a humble minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and as such, I am passionately interested in seeing HIS great will accomplished. As believers, we are the church, and we have a responsibility of recognizing the current condition of the church. We MUST determine if the church is, in fact, spiritually impacting our mission field, as our great God has designed. What can we clearly see, and determine, about American society TODAY? There is racial discord, there is violent hatred, and there is utter confusion. American society is spiritually self destructing due to this discord, hatred, and confusion. There is NO doubt, the church is meant to be a very proactive solution to the spiritual destruction of our society, NOT a contributor, or even a silent by-stander. Our great God, the head of the Church, Christ Jesus our Lord, in NO WAY promotes discord, violent hatred, or utter confusion, for HIS people. The church is meant to have a bond, and a unity of Spirit that is, in fact, much stronger than the bond of blood, or race. In reality, the STRONGEST bond of unity, are those that are bound together by the Spirit of God, through the blood of Christ. The church CANNOT be segregated by race, or any other demographic. We are one in the Spirit, we are one in The Lord. Society around us is falling hard. Each of us, as believers, certainly has a mission field. This mission field begins with our own family, and extends to the church, and the community around us. We have a holy obligation to serve in our mission field, as ambassadors of Christ. If we are not serving, and loving as Christ, than what we do is FRUITLESS, no matter how good it may appear. A strong spiritual effect on our mission field, will only be accomplished when we minister, as Christ Himself would minister. American society today is under a powerful spiritual stronghold. Christ working, through HIS church, is the power to break that stronghold in the lives of people. It is very sobering to realize that Christ is now, sitting at the right hand of The Father, empowering us, the church, to battle and overcome for a spiritual victory, in our mission field. I pray these humble words will encourage each of us, to take hold of the mantle given to us by Christ Himself, and finish our course with great victory, and Joy. Our great God is worthy, of our hard labor, for HIS great glory.
We Are The Work is about how Men Stopping Violence (MSV), a small, social justice nonprofit, got to do big things, about the intriguing characters that formed and were informed by MSVs mission, about how men and women learned to work in solidarity to address mens violence against women (VAW), about their successes and failures, the lessons which became the Core Principles that guide their work. One of those principles, We Are the Work, means that no matter where or when you enter the struggle to end VAW you have to start and stay with examining yourself. You have to identify both your strengths and your blind spots. And Its not about whether or how you transcend those blind spots. Its that you have to know that theyre there and how you will address them. This book tells the stories that illuminate those personal and institutional challenges. The rhetoric and analyses used to tackle this thorny issue are only part of the story. We Are the Work gets to how all of that talk about eliminating violence against women stands up to real-world challenges. Here are the take-home lessons from 30 years in the trenches of social justice work.
In Give Peace a Chance, the distinguished Dr. Hamburg teams up with his filmmaker son to tell the story of selected significant peace achievements over the past 25 years. Including lessons from personal experience, pithy quotes from interviews with international dignitaries, and the insights of a documentary sensibility, this book reflects upon striking moments in peace history and inflects them with the perspective of preventive medicine. From Jane Goodall's rainforest research station, to a hostage taking in Eastern Africa, to the Reagan-Gorbachev post-summit epiphany in Reykjavik, the Hamburgs take us there. They then distill the wisdom of these and many other encounters into an essential "six pillars of prevention"-education, early action, democracy building, socioeconomic development, human rights, and arms control. These six pillars are essential not only to reflections upon the past, but to future prospects emerging from recent challenges to peace-the Arab Spring, the violent repression in Syria, and the brewing faceoff with Iran. Features of this engaging text: Combines personal experience(including involvement in a hostage rescue mission) with ongoing research in a variety of areas over 50+ years. Includes feature quotes and vignettes from international figures including Kofi Annan, Sam Nunn, and Hillary Clinton, among many others. Builds upon six key pillars of prevention: education, early warning, democracy, development, human rights, and arms control. Concludes with prescriptions for peace action in four key areas: the US and Western democracies, the UN, the EU, and NATO. Offers carefully selected Recommended Readings for every chapter. See Stanford University's website for twenty-nine videotaped interviews with world leaders in the prevention of mass violence at http://lib.stanford.edu/preventing-genocide/list-interviews
