Just Peace

Just Peace is a recognized designation for activities which are intentional and purposeful to alleviate inequities and injustices which may lead to violence. A Just Peace congregation recognizes there can be no true peace without justice for all, including Just Peace in the Community – so that all may live free from fear.

On October 26, 1985, the members of Faith United Church of Christ declared the church to be a Just Peace Church by committing to becoming:

  • A community of hope, believing a Just Peace is possible, working toward this end, and communicating to the larger world the excitement and possibility of a Just Peace.

  • A community of worship and celebration, centering its identity in justice and peacemaking and the Good News of peace that is Jesus Christ.

  • A community of biblical and theological reflection, studying the Scriptures, the Christian story, and the working of the Spirit in the struggle against injustice and oppression.

  • A community of spiritual nurture and support, loving one another and giving one another strength in the struggle for a Just Peace.

  • A community of honest and open conflict, a zone of freedom where differences may be expressed, explored, and worked through in mutual understanding and growth.

  • A community of empowerment, renewing and training people for making peace/doing justice. A community of financial support, developing programs and institutions for a Just Peace.

  • A community of solidarity with the poor, seeking to be present in places of oppression, poverty, and violence, and standing with the oppressed in the struggle to resist and change this evil.

  • A community of loyalty to God and to the whole human community over any nation or rival idolatry.

  • A community that recognizes no enemies, willing to risk and be vulnerable, willing to take surprising initiatives to transform situations of enmity. A community of repentance, confessing its own guilt and involvement in structural injustice and violence, ready to acknowledge its entanglement in evil, seeking to turn toward new life.

  • A community of resistance, standing against social structures comfortable with violence and injustice.

  • A community of sacrifice and commitment, ready to go the extra mile, and then another mile, in the search for justice and peace.

  • A community of political and social engagement, in regular dialogue with the political order, participating in peace and justice advocacy networks, witnessing to a Just Peace in the community and in the nation, joining the social and political struggle to implement a Just Peace.

    - From the Just Peace Pronouncement of the 15th UCC General Synod, 1985