HOW DO WE FOLLOW THE PRINCE OF PEACE?

The Virginia Conference Peace Committee is launching a program of collecting stories from throughout the Conference Churches and making it into a book, possibly entitled “Prince of Peace Lifestyles.” 

We would like to engage the youth in each congregation to collect these stories from their church members and to write them down. They may have their own stories. The youth are also highly encouraged to write letters to overseas Mennonite Churches to collect their stories as well. The purpose and benefit of this exercise is to:

Recognize the many living examples among us of how to live out Christ’s Peace, and to learn of the many non-violent options available.

Enable a large number of persons in conference to share, discuss, and hear of practical peacemaking.

Encourage passing of the peace lifestyle from older generation to younger.

Provide a record of these stories that can be used for years to come.

Encourage contact with Christians from other cultures, learning from their walk.

As churches and youth leaders, you may want to provide some incentives for your youth to participate in this – pizza parties, a weekend trip somewhere, etc. Within the final book, we also want to give those participating credit. We are currently in contact with Herald Press to publish this book.

The following page includes an example handout that can be used to provide everyone in your congregation, with 3 example stories to give all an idea of what we are looking for. 

Here are some steps your youth can take to carry this out in your congregation:

Make public announcements during church services.

Stuff the following handout “Prince of Peace Lifestyles” in everyone’s mailbox.
Stand at the church door when all exit the services to hand them the handout and ask if they can meet sometime to hear and write their stories.
Have a night where they divide up names and call all in the congregation to explain the project and request a time to meet.
Explain the program ahead of time, then invite themselves as teams to homes.
Hold one or more evenings at church where all are invited to come, meet with the teams, and tell their stories. Of course, offering refreshments helps.
Give those who offer stories some recognition.

Some steps adult members in your church can take to encourage this:

Make a point of inviting youth over to their home,
Encourage others in the Church whom you know have stories to share them.

We can help with addresses of overseas churches where your youth can send letters. They should send these churches examples of their own stories as well. Contact us for help or with your questions, or send us your collected stories to: Dave & Krista Powell, 4016 Hampton Drive, Waynesboro, Virginia 22980, Tel. (540) 941-3798, Email: ecopow@ecollc.net