An Anabaptist Consultation on Alternative Service March 4-5 in Elgin, Ill., brought together more than 90 people from the historic peace churches--Church of the Brethren, Mennonites, Brethren in Christ and Friends (Quakers)--and other peacemaking traditions to address the possibility of a military draft, discuss increased military recruitment, and highlight the tradition of Christian service.

Participants came away from the meeting with renewed determination and new ideas to strengthen the peace witness of their churches, the task of working together in the event of a draft, and a priority to counter military recruitment of youth and young adults, which was called a "back-door draft" that is already happening across the country.

Participants also said the churches need to strengthen their commitment to Christian service whether there is a draft or not, and need to extend the Christian peace witness and the conversation about these issues beyond the peace churches. "This calling is not just for Anabaptists," said Dick Davis, pastor of Peace Mennonite Church in Dallas, Texas, and a former Southern Baptist Army chaplain. "This calling extends beyond our communities. We are agents of reconciliation, ambassadors of Jesus."

A Selective Service System official told the group no draft is planned. "The administration's position on the draft is quite simple: There isn't going to be any," said Richard S. Flahavan, associate director of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs for Selective Service. Cassandra Costley, manager of Selective Service's Alternative Service Division, also gave a presentation on current planning for what a draft would look like if it were enacted.

In a counter viewpoint, J.E. McNeil, executive director of the Center on Conscience and War, a conscientious objector advocacy group, urged participants to consider the draft a real possibility. Recruitment shortfalls by the National Guard, Army, and Marines indicate a draft can't be ruled out, she said.

Many speakers warned that increased military recruitment is creating unprecedented enticements that disproportionately target youth in communities of color and in impoverished communities. "In reality, the draft is ongoing as we speak. It's what I call a back-door draft," said Davis, who noted he hoped this would stir churches to become increasingly concerned about communities outside their own.

The military has long enticed people of color by promising a better life and options that would not otherwise be available to them, Conrad Moore, an anti-racism trainer for Mennonite Central Committee US, told the group. Moore, who joined the Marines as a young man and later turned against the violence of the military, pointed out that slaves were promised freedom for fighting in wars, that those who were free hoped to become first-class citizens. For all people of color "it was always about improving our condition," Moore said.

Presentations on denominational volunteer service programs focused on discipleship to Jesus Christ as the foundation of Christian service. Dan McFadden, director of Brethren Volunteer Service, represented service as counter-cultural in North American society, and talked of preparing volunteers to deal with the racism, sexism, classism, and the discrimination endemic in society.

He also pointed out the need for more funding, staff, and church support for volunteer programs in the event of a draft, citing rises in numbers of volunteers in church service programs during the Vietnam war.

Mennonite service programs reflect the belief that "we really can transform the world," said Iris de Leon-Hartshorn, director of Peace and Justice Ministries for Mennonite Central Committee US. She cited the reform of the mental health care system after Civilian Public Service workers—mostly conscientious objectors—worked in state hospitals and other mental health facilities during World War II, witnessed abuses, and worked to correct them. "The historic peace churches were a voice for the voiceless," she said.

De Leon-Hartshorn raised three ethical questions for denominational service programs: how to listen to communities in which service is being done, how to connect short-term service experiences with longterm advocacy, and how to connect overseas and domestic assignments. "We must form partnerships that are loving and mutual," she urged.

Other questions related to service included how to create service opportunities for people of color and economically disadvantaged youth, and how service programs can provide opportunities to undocumented church members.

The Council of Moderators and Secretaries (COMS), a group of leaders of Mennonite and Brethren denominations that sponsored the consultation, will carry forward the issues and concerns raised in the consultation.

The consultation was held at the Church of the Brethren General Offices in Elgin, Ill. Participants attended from the Church of the Brethren, the Mennonite Church USA, the Brethren in Christ Church of North America, the US Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches, Mennonite Central Committee US, the Conservative Mennonite Conference, the Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends (Evangelical Friends International), the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, Friends United Meeting, the Beachy Amish, Amish Mennonite Church, and the Bruderhof Communities.

Church of the Brethren members who took part were Jim Hardenbrook, Annual Conference moderator; Ronald D. Beachley, Annual Conference moderator-elect; Stan Noffsinger, general secretary of the General Board; Dan McFadden, director of Brethren Volunteer Service; Phil Jones, director of the Brethren Witness/Washington Office; Ken Shaffer, archivist for the General Board's Brethren Historical Library and Archives; Kim Stuckey Hissong, program coordinator for Peacemaker Formation at On Earth Peace; Verdena Lee, a physician and board member of On Earth Peace; Tim McElwee, Plowshares Associate Professor of Peace Studies at Manchester College; Debbie Roberts, campus minister and director of the Peace Studies Program at the University of La Verne (Calif.); Belita D. Mitchell, pastor of First Church of the Brethren, Harrisburg, Pa.; William Olivencia, a youth from First Harrisburg; Andrew Duffey, a youth at Westminster (Md.) Church of the Brethren; Scott Duffey, pastor at Westminster; Richard M. Judy Jr., on the ministry team at New Covenant Church of the Brethren, Columbus, Ohio; Carrie and Torin Eikler, students at Bethany Theological Seminary; and Travis Poling, a student at Manchester. Brethren videographer David Sollenberger filmed the consultation.

Source: Newsline 3/7/2005
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