Anabaptist vision series: Practical steps build peace in the neighborhood

Dennis Edwards, Peace Fellowship

“The third great element in the Anabaptist vision was the ethic of love and nonresistance as applies to all human relationships.”[1]

The Benning Terrace housing development in southeast Washington, DC is yet another of those places in our urban centers where many of the typical challenges are evident, such as: drug dealing and usage, high unemployment, low academic achievement, large numbers of single mother heads-of-households, poor nutrition and low self-esteem. In fact, many years ago this housing development willingly took on the unflattering nickname “Simple City.”

Additionally, the community has frequently felt apparent inequities in the allocation of city resources.Indeed, many of the residents have long complained of how hard it is to get better lighting and general maintenance of the housing project. Until recently, police presence as deterrent (as opposed to response to crimes) seemed scarce, especially when compared to affluent District of Columbia neighborhoods such as Capitol Hill or Georgetown. My family lives around the corner from Benning Terrace and our church, Peace Fellowship, began in our home. Several of our initial attendees lived in Benning Terrace.

One of the families of Peace Fellowship Church, who until recently lived in Benning Terrace, found themselves in a frightening situation when the husband stood up to some local drug dealers. His car got vandalized and after threats were made, he and his family no longer felt safe. But where could this family go? Those living in public housing are there because they do not have much in the way of monetary resources.

Our congregation acted quickly to provide temporary housing for this large family without splitting them up. Several of our members were energized and mobilized to get the family resettled in a different neighborhood, which happened in a few weeks. Our efforts, which required the cooperation of several people, followed our initial response of prayer, the most important “weapon” in the Christian’s arsenal. We believe that it was through prayer that the authorities apprehended some of those who threatened the family.

The biblical call to peacemaking is especially needed in housing developments like Benning Terrace, as well as in other urban communities. Anabaptist theology, although identified and codified in the pre-Industrial era of the Reformation, is relevant even in our contemporary urban centers. Even though Mennonites in America have largely been associated with rural living, the pillars that Harold S. Bender identified –– discipleship, community and nonviolence –– must become shared values in our urban centers as well.

However, responses to threats and violence are not the only ways that peacemaking is pursued in the city. The practice of peace includes growing as a fellowship across lines of race and class.

Peace Fellowship Church has become a cross-cultural fellowship, comprised of people from various ethnic groups. We are also a people who reflect a range of incomes and educational backgrounds. Developing loving relationships is one of our core values. We believe that part of the ethic of love and nonviolence means building relationships with those whose backgrounds are different from our own.

Another aspect of urban peacemaking is building ecumenical relationships. Even though I appreciate and even celebrate Anabaptist theology, I am not chauvinistic about it. I became part of an ecumenical fellowship of Christian workers (not all are pastors) and am currently the convener of the group, setting its agenda and chairing its meetings. Part of our life together means having a few joint worship services throughout the year to which all of the congregations in our part of the city are invited.

In addition, some of us have preached in each other’s churches, which allows for even deeper relationships to develop among our congregants. This aspect of peacemaking has allowed for a growing respect for other believers and an increasing sense of our need to work together for positive changes in our community.

Neighborhood involvement and activism are other ways that peace is practiced in the city. Members of our congregation are active in civic associations, neighborhood clean-up days, mentoring children, efforts to reduce teen violence and other opportunities to be part of solutions to problems in the community. Recently we began a support group for returning residents – those coming back to the community from having served time in prison. We’ve also just started a program to help people who have dropped out of school prepare for and receive their GED.

We have seen that peacemaking is about more than refraining from participation in war. Our congregation not only wants the young people of our city to refrain from violence – through gang participation or otherwise – but to be pursuers of peace (Romans 14:19). This means that we have to build relationships with people to work together as a community of love.

I suspect that most churches in the city want to be agents for positive change. Anabaptist theology makes a significant contribution to all of Christianity by providing a perspective that “the kingdom of God should be set up in the midst of earth, here and now…”[2]

[1]Harold S. Bender, The Anabaptist Vision (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1944) 31.

[2]Ibid, 36.