In July a rather peculiar thing happened. Four people whodid not know each other, moved into a house in the Germantownneighborhood of Philadelphia, committed to live together for 2years, and set about forming a community of proactive, ChristianPeacemakers.No one really needs to explain

why

we need to make peace,but

how

do we go about making it? Shalom House, which is thename of our new community, is one practical idea on how tomake peace that has been forming in the Circle of Hope networkof Brethren in Christ congregations for a long time now. It cameto life this summer. Here’s a little more on what Shalom House isall about.

The Vision - what it is

Shalom House is a tool for proactive peacemakers to use to growin their faith, to express the gospel of peace, to provide the optionof reconciliation for people in Philadelphia, and to secure a placefor Circle of Hope among God’s worldwide peace movement. Itis directed by a Shalom House Guidance Team of Randy Nyce,Rod & Gwen White, Missy Stoner, Jane Clinton and Sarah White.The team is overseen by Circle Venture, Circle of Hope’s arm of compassionate service.

The Mission - what it does

Shalom House provides community for committed peacemakersto spend at least two-years deepening and applying their callingin Philadelphia and learning about and connecting to God’sworldwide community of peacebuilders. The house lives inpeace, works in the community for peace daily, creates a networkof peacemakers and includes Circle of Hope in it.

The Distictives that drive Shalom House:

•

We gain life and give it out of our relationship withJesus. We are the new humanity.

•

The community operates with the rhythm of the age-olddisciplines of work and prayer, balancing contemplationand action.

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All ages and status are welcome. Circle of Hope has avision to equip the next generation; likewise, ShalomHouse focuses on recruiting young adult peacemakersto make a long-lasting impact in Philadelphia andamong God’s world-wide peacemaking network.

•

The house operates according to a general “strategicplan” set by the team but reflecting the gifts and desiresof the residents.

•

The members of the household act as part of the Circleof Hope network. Their training and opportunity is notonly for personal growth, but is designed to build up theChurch, primarily Circle of Hope, in Philadelphia. So who are the four individuals who signed up for thisundertaking? Let us introduce ourselves.

Brian Baughan

. Like many others, Ihave faced two big wake-up calls inrecent years: the devastation wreakedby U.S.-led wars and our society’sdesensitization to violence. What arecompassionate and effective responsesto these present crises? We can pray,process the facts, protest negativepolicies, support positive ones. . . . These are good things, butmore seems necessary. I want to be renewed, transformed by theGospel of Peace. I don’t think I’m alone.It is a struggle for us to live in a world that seems so inuredto violence, destruction, and death. That’s why I look towardcommunity. I’ve picked one integrated with the church to which Ibelong, Circle of Hope. As a searcher and a convert tononviolence, Shalom House seems like the right fit.I have never done anything like this, and so I regularly findmyself asking, “What are we doing, exactly?” Uncovering theanswers on how to live nonviolently is an ongoing—oftenfrustrating—process. It’s great we have a loyal guidance team, aresponsive church community, and dedicated partners.I wish many things for Philadelphia: fewer handguns, prisoncells, abandoned buildings, and casino plans; more green-powered buildings, urban farms, mediation centers, and pretzelfactories.

Mimi Copp.

Over the last decade I'velived in a Catholic Worker House inChicago; spent 3 years living life inNigeria; found my way closer to Godthrough my church Circle of Hope; andstudied Peace and DevelopmentStudies in Spain. All of this has led meto Shalom House.The watershed moment for me was in 2001, two weeks after returning home from Nigeria, when a group of people usedairplanes as weapons and killed thousands of people in the U.S.Decrying this violence, my government reigned down moreviolence. In these times, I discovered the depths of my belief innonviolent Christian peacemaking – in Jesus’ call to find a thirdway; different from violence and different from passivity. I wascompelled to make my vocation nonviolent peacemaking.My passion is addressing root causes of violence like foreignpolicies, trade agreements, spending packages. But makingpeace doesn’t only happen through legislation or changingforeign policy. It also happens by how we live our lives. This isexemplified in the story of how Jesus lived his life and how hedied. This is why I am a part of Shalom House. I am looking for a conscious way of living a life of peacemaking.

Peaceful Ventures

Issue 1, Spring 2008

A newsletter from Shalom House -- a community of proactive Christian peacemakers started by Circle of Hope

Adam Malliet

In the lead up tothe Iraq War things stoppedmaking sense. Igrew up in anevangelicalconservative church, and while Iappreciate the foundation of faith Ireceived, some important teachings of Jesus were left unaddressed. I askedmyself how we could participate in war if Jesus asked us to love our enemies andto do good to

those who harm us.Without a community to encourageme in this direction and with littleunderstanding of the rich history of non-violent peacemaking that exists in thechurch, I decided that if my enemieswanted to kill me, my faith required me tolet them. I felt very alone. I believe nowthat this was the Holy Spirit leading me;which isn't easy for me to say becausethe mystery of the Holy Spirit is sooverwhelming to me that I am oftenuncomfortable invoking that language.I began to fill in the "blanks" with thehelp of a few friends and by studying theprophetic theology of Richard Hays andStanley Hauerwas. I also startedattending (quite accidentally?) Circle of Hope where I was surrounded by acommunity of believers who connectedme to the Anabaptist tradition of nonviolent peacemaking and created asafe place for me to explore and deepenmy faith. Shalom House presented itself as a very incarnational way to begin livingout what I had learned, and so I put onefoot in front of the other, trusting God'spromises. Blessed are the peacemakers.

Brian Shingledecker.

I spent my childhoodin Nairobi, Kenya.Later, during highschool, my familymoved to Michigan.Since, I've attendedcollege in Indiana,worked with foster kids in Guatemala, and assisted inKatrina recovery in Mississippi. A year and a half ago, I moved to Philadelphiaand, soon after, I found Circle of Hopeand first heard about the vision of ShalomHouse.My journey as a peacemaker startedat an early age. I grew up in a family thatfollowed Jesus and I took his teachings toheart from the beginning. During my timein Nairobi, I remember folks dancing inthe streets, celebrating the election of Nelson Mandela as president of S. Africaand the triumph over apartheid; my firstexposure to nonviolent resistance. Thisearly impression is one of several that ledto a conviction to live out the Gospel of Peace.When I moved to Philadelphia, I wasalready doing some work on my own.Still, something was missing. I realizedthat without the support of others, it wouldbe difficult to continue deepening thissense of calling. The opportunity came atthe perfect time and I have enjoyed thechallenges of forming our community andbeginning to discern the practicalities of our mission.

How does Shalom House work?

If you’re wondering exactly how this allworks, you’re not alone. We askourselves this question all the time. Butover the last few months, we have slowlystarted to lay the foundation of our community and our work.The original idea laid out by theguidance team was that each communitymember would hold a part-time job togenerate the income needed to keep thehouse members fed, clothed and warm.We’ve already put a twist on this part of the plan. Adam wanted to keep his full-time job with Project H.O.M.E., aorganization that works on homelessnessin Philadelphia, and saw his main role inthe house as being a financial one, so hecontinues to work 40 hours a week. Theothers fluctuate between part-time gigs,full-time work or no outside jobs at all.Whatever income each of us bringsin, we put it in our common pot to cover our expenses and our debt that we’vedecided to share. What comes out of thispot is really rather magical & definitelycounter-cultural--four adults living off of what adds up to about 2 full-time salaries.This allows us the time (a preciouscommodity in modern U.S. life) to dosome proactive, peacemaking work. Thecommon pot is not entirely magicalthough; it does have it’s limit. So a larger challenge is figuring out how to fund thework we want to do, like participating inconflict resolution trainings, working withpartners, organizing actions, hostingevents, traveling to connect with other peacemakers.This pooling of our resources alsoreveals some of our shared values. Webelieve in

enough

; that there is enough togo around when we share and when werely on God. We are reminded of thestory of the Manna in Exodus where Godlays out an economic system based onthe principle of enough rather thanscarcity.We value sharing. Adam, who soldhis house when he joined Shalom House,has decided to loan out all of that money,interest-free, to his friends who aresuffering from debt so that they can pay itoff. Brian B. and Adam have joined BrianS. and Mimi in our credit card and studentloan debt by being willing to makepayments out of our common fund eachmonth to pay down those debts.We value the wellbeing of each other.We live in a society that works too muchand puts too much emphasis on “gettingthings done;” many times at the expenseof our health. People get sick anddepressed. They suffer nervousbreakdowns or feel isolated. We hope bycollectively working fewer hours

on the job

, we can begin the practice of balancing work, rest, prayer, andrelationships.

What have we been up to thesefirst few months?

We have started thinking of ourselves asproactive peacemakers and so together we are figuring out what it means. Wehave etched out a rhythm together that isanchored by our Wed. night dinner andmeeting time. Grounding our communityand work in God is paramount. We’vebeen carving out time to pray & meditateboth individually and collectively. Each of us is strengthening Shalom House bymeeting monthly with a spiritual director.From this spiritual center, we have spenttime building community and striving tocreate a culture of peace in our home.We have also propelled ourselves intoaction. We’d like to share with you a fewphotos from some of our actions duringthese first months, which are on the nextpage.Thank you for letting us introduceourselves to you. We will continue to letyou know what is happening at ShalomHouse.Peace be with you,

Mimi, Brian, Adam & Brian

20,000 people, includingBrian S., Mimi, and BrianB., met in November at theGates of Fort Benning,GA to call for the close of the School of the Americas(now called WHINSEC).We mourned the loss of 1,000s killed by thegraduates of the schooland we took hope in our numbers & our commitments towardnonviolent peacemaking.Entering the season of Advent, Shalom Houseled a group from Circleof Hope to participate inthe 48th annualChristmas PeacePilgrimage -- a 10 miletrek from Nazareth toBethlehem, PA.Hundreds of Christianswalked throughout theday seeking to reflect thenonviolent life of Jesus &his truth of forgiving love.

n August, Philly hit 250 homicides for the year. By the end of year wesuffered 392 homicides; 331 fromguns. We walked the streets of NorthPhilly with other Philadelphians aspart of the City’s “Put it Down”campaign and local groups andchurches’ call to walk for Peace.Two months later, we went to aworkshop on “Christians & HandgunViolence” to learn more about effortsto reduce the proliferation of illegalhandguns.

Christmas Peace PilgrimageVigil & Nonviolent Direct Action to Closethe School of the AmericasWalk for Peace in North PhillyGuluwalk

Marching the streets of Philadelphia with 250 people and apolice escort.

Guluwalk is a movement thatstands in solidarity and raisesawareness about the ongoingcivil war in Northern Uganda.In the fall, Brian S. was the leadorganizer of the Philadelphiawalk and Brian B. was on theplanning committee. ShalomHouse served as Guluwalkorganizing headquarters.

Please keep us in your prayers.

We ask that you pray for us andour work of proactive, nonviolentChristian peacemaking.Please pray for:

✴

Our ongoing discernment as wefigure out how to make & live in peace.

✴

More people to join Shalom House.

✴

Job opportunities directly related topeacemaking.

How you can help

Be a prayer partner.

We are contributing to theformation of God’s network of peacemakers around theglobe.

Be a local partner.