Become a Peace Church
Why Become an Adventist Peace Church?
Signal that your church is committed to participating in justice, mercy and reconciliation.
Deepen your connection with the historical and theological resources of the Adventist movement—celebrating a heritage that many don’t know we have. The APF network can help provide stories and information for your church that educates members in ways that honor our Adventist identity.
Connect with other Adventists who are trying creative and challenging ways to be part of the Peaceable Kingdom. Sometimes church members can feel that they are alone in working for peace and justice, and knowing we have a wide Adventist community pursuing these themes is encouraging.
Take advantage of the communication and supportive resources the APF has to offer. For example, apply for a grant to try something new to work for peace, be interviewed on the podcast, or tell your church’s stories on the blog.
How to Join the APF Peace Church Network
The process for joining this fellowship of churches is easy.
1. Speak Up: An interested congregation notifies the APF by email of its desire to join the Adventist Peace Church Network.
2. Stand Up: The church board approves a statement affirming the congregation’s intention to pursue biblical shalom* as an integral part of the church’s identity and mission. The statement also affirms its desire to be publicly identified as an Adventist Peace Church. This affirmation statement could be the APF church board model resolution or one that is crafted by the local church.
3. Show Up: Pledge to work toward the following guidelines in the years to come as a way to cultivate and enhance your peace church efficacy:
Commitments. The local church identifies the APF issues or commitments they desire to emphasize in their work with a long-term commitment to building relationships and developing action strategies appropriate to their local contexts. These topics of focus are care for creation, economic justice, peacemaking and reconciliation, racial and gender justice, and health and human rights.
Coordinator. Churches appoint a Peace Coordinator whose responsibilities include: a) representing the local church to the larger APF network; b) encouraging the congregation to stay engaged with peace and justice issues; and c) helping the congregation achieve and maintain its certification as an official Adventist Peace Church.
Action. Congregations embody their commitments by engaging in actions or awareness-raising events in their local communities to address peace and justice concerns. We encourage you to communicate regularly with the Peace Church Network Coordinator about your congregations plans and activities so we can share these stories with the wider network on the blog and podcast.
Worship. Adventist Peace Churches plan worship services that emphasize peace and justice themes. Ideally, these themes are woven into worship, Bible studies, sermons, etc.
Adventist Peace Sabbath. The APF has designated the Sabbath before Memorial Day (in the U.S. calendar) as the annual Adventist Peace Sabbath. On this day, Adventist Peace Churches are encouraged to hold services that, with sensitivity and respect for all members, recall the Adventist heritage of peacemaking and conscientious objection in times of war, mourn the victims of violence (including both civilians and combatants), and focus attention on the work of individuals around the world whose commitment to peacemaking places them in danger and hardship. The APF has created an Adventist Peace Liturgy, Let Us Be Peacemakers, that includes hymns, prayers, and readings that all congregations might follow on Peace Sabbath. We encourage pastors and other church leaders to adopt, adapt, and share this worship resource as one visible way of bearing witness to Christ’s peace. Members of the Peace Church Network in other countries can adapt the date of this service to fit their local context.
*Shalom means well-being, flourishing, wholeness, completeness, community, prosperity, harmony, unity, reconciliation, and peace with justice.