Counter-recruitment event challenges Anabaptist peace witness.

On the weekend eve of national elections, Brethren, Mennonites, and others gathered in San Antonio, Texas, to explore national issues of conscience on Nov. 3-5. Meeting on the weekend eve of national elections, the group realized that the time is now for peacemakers of conscience to speak with a clear voice in regards to war and its costly impact to society, said Phil Jones, director of the Brethren Witness/Washington Office.

Organized by Mennonite Central Committee, under direction of MCC staff Titus Peachey, the event focused on the impact of military recruitment in communities of color and communities impacted by poverty, and was initiated by the people of color caucus from the Anabaptist Consultation on Alternative Service in March 2005. Participants were hosted by San Antonio Mennonite Church, and were given opportunities for networking and relationship building around the issue of countering military recruitment.

The conference drew more than 70 participants from across the US. Brethren in attendance included San Antonio residents, Brethren volunteers, denominational staff Jones and Matt Guynn of On Earth Peace, Brethren members from Ohio and Pennsylvania, and a large youth delegation from Haitian First Church of the Brethren in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Ertell Whigham, associate pastor of Norristown New Life Church, spoke for the opening session. He shared from his broad military experiences and involvements, including six years in the Marine Corps with a combat unit in Vietnam 1968-69, and as a recruiting sergeant 1973-74. He challenged the conference to seek the truth that lies beneath many military promises and expectations.

Other presenters included J.E. McNeil of the Center on Conscience and War in Washington, D.C.; Dick Davis, pastor of Peace Mennonite Church in Dallas, Texas, who had served as an army chaplain and resigned his commission in 1992 as a conscientious objector; and a three-member panel of former military personnel who were able to leave the military as an act of conscience. They recounted stories of heavy military recruitment, unfulfilled promises from the military, and the growing understanding that their initial choice of the military was one that they could no longer honor.

Workshops were offered on topics such as counter recruitment in schools, racism in the military, peace as worship, alternatives to the military, and seeing counter recruitment as a social movement. Guynn presented a workshop on the theological basis of counter recruitment.

In Sunday morning worship with the San Antonio Mennonites, the Brooklyn Brethren group offered leadership through drama and music. Peachey gave the closing sermon, “Countering Recruitment with Gospel Nonviolence” from Luke 9:51-56, reminding the group that many influences affect the choices we make. Peachey encouraged all to understand that “our own internal work can transform things around us, a greater, more powerful step than dismissing things in anger.”

(Reflections on the conference from the Haitian Brethren youth will follow in the Dec. 6 issue of Newsline.)

Source: 11/22/2006 Newsline