Brethren hold biennial training event for Decade to Overcome Violence.

A workshop for district and congregational representatives for the Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV) drew 48 participants to New Windsor, Md., Dec. 5-7. DOV is a program begun by the World Council of Churches. This second DOV training event for Brethren was sponsored by the General Board's Witness/Washington Office, On Earth Peace (OEP), Bethany Theological Seminary, and the H.C. Gemmer Christian Foundation.

The workshop, titled "Overcome Evil with Good," is viewed as formative for Brethren DOV representatives. Presentations by peace workers Bernard Lafayette Jr. and David Jehnsen were central to the event. Lafayette was an instrumental member of the nonviolent organizing efforts of Martin Luther King Jr., co-founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1960, and leader of the Nashville Movement the same year. David Jehnsen is a social change activist and educator who was involved with King, Lafayette, and others in the Albany Movement of 1962, served as deputy director of the US Congressional Commission charged with design of the United States Institute of Peace from 1980-82, and is a member of the OEP board of directors. Jehnsen and Lafayette challenged participants, through historical analysis and strategic theory, to embrace principles for nonviolence and the philosophy of King. Their presentation offered hope and a structured methodology for moving forward.

In addition to staff leadership from OEP and Brethren Witness, Brethren Volunteer Service worker Rachel Peterson coordinated the event. Worship resources were provided by Jeff Carter, pastor at Manassas (Va.) Church of the Brethren, and David Radcliff of the New Community Project. The event also included shared meals, shared stories, and a shared dialog about how the DOV program could best be structured in the Church of the Brethren. Participants had the opportunity to role play and develop strategies that may lead to a new nonviolence movement within the church.

Source: Newsline 1/30/2004
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