Called to Be Peacemakers: Bearing Witness Comes to Wellington
Last night, at 7pm, Lifepoint Church in Mt Cook opened its doors for an evening that was both sobering and inspiring.
Hosted by Anglican Missions and made possible by Aotearoa Christians for Peace in Palestine, the Bearing Witness tour brought Dr. Lamma Mansour and Dr. Yousef Khoury to Wellington to share their stories and to invite us into a deeper conversation about what it means to follow Jesus in a broken world.
It was a real gift to hear from both speakers. Yousef spoke first, drawing on his own experience and grounding the evening in lived reality. Lamma Mansour, from Nazareth, followed with a reflection that moved from the specifics of what she and her community have witnessed toward a much bigger question for all of us: what does it mean to truly see one another, and what does genuine peacemaking actually require of us?
Drawing on the prophet Jeremiah's warning against those who declare "peace, peace" over a wound that has not healed, Lamma challenged the room to consider the difference between the appearance of peace and the real, sustained peace that comes through justice, truth-telling and restoration. She spoke movingly of attention itself as a form of love - the willingness, as she put it, to keep turning fully toward realities that are hard to look at, rather than letting our focus slide away once a headline fades.
She then talked about peacemaking. Rather than standing to the side as neutral observers, Lamma pointed to Jesus' own example - launching his ministry in his hometown of Nazareth with a declaration of good news for the poor and freedom for the oppressed, and later teaching that "blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." True peacemaking, she suggested, is not passive. It means looking reality in the eye, naming what is wrong, and seeking the restoration of dignity for all people - a vision with no room for exclusivity, and one that holds the humanity of everyone involved as equally precious in the eyes of God.
It was a privileged opportunity to engage so deeply with this topic. For those who were there, the invitation now is to sit with what we heard - to consider, personally and together as a Movement, what attentiveness, truth-telling and active peacemaking might look like in our own lives, our parishes and our wider community.
Our thanks to Anglican Missions for hosting, to Aotearoa Christians for Peace in Palestine for bringing the tour to our shores, and to Lamma and Yousef for their courage and generosity in sharing their stories with us.
The Bearing Witness tour continues tonight in Auckland, on Saturday in Hamilton and finishing in Auckland on Sunday. For more information see www.ac4pp.com
