Perkasie Mennonite Church screened a newly-released international documentary film this September to congregational and community members. The film, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, tells the inspirational story of women caught in the middle of a vicious civil war in Liberia who banded together to find ways to bring peace.
Thousands of women — ordinary mothers, grandmothers, aunts and daughters, both Christian and Muslim — came together to pray for peace and then staged a silent protest outside of the Presidential Palace. Armed only with white T-shirts and the courage of their convictions, they demanded a resolution to the country’s civil war. Despite bullets and threats of death and torture, the women prayed, demonstrated for nine straight months and helped negotiate a ceasefire and a transitional government which ousted dictator Charles Taylor.
One of the leaders of the movement, Leymah Gbowee, helps narrate her story. Gbowee later was a student at Eastern Mennonite University’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. She has won numerous humanitarian awards.
A New York Times columnist described the movie as a story of the “power of ordinary people to intervene in their own fate.” It was directed by Emmy-winning director Gini Reticker.
Contact Becky Felton at Perkasie congregation if interested in purchasing or borrowing a DVD of the film at info@perkmenno.org The film was screened at hundreds of locations in the U.S. and Canada in honor of the International Day of Peace, September 21.
The opinions expressed in articles posted on Mosaic’s website are those of the author and may not reflect the official policy of Mosaic Conference. Mosaic is a large conference, crossing ethnicities, geographies, generations, theologies, and politics. Each person can only speak for themselves; no one can represent “the conference.” May God give us the grace to hear what the Spirit is speaking to us through people with whom we disagree and the humility and courage to love one another even when those disagreements can’t be bridged.