God’s glory is revealed when all creation is fully alive, living in peace. Isaiah prophesied a day when we would reshape our weapons into farm tools, a world where life-giving replaced killing (2:4). Jesus taught us the foremost importance of loving our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-38). Early Christ followers taught: “Don’t pay back anyone for their evil actions with evil actions, but show respect for what everyone else believes is good. If possible, to the best of your ability, live at peace with all people” (Romans 12:17-18).

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However God’s peace can only be made real when we seek God’s justice. God’s justice is not transactional as human justice is. Divine justice determines what we rightly deserve through the mystery of God’s freely given love and grace. Since we are all equally loved by God, we live the truth of our identity by rejecting relationships built on power difference, exploitation, coercion, and the threat or use of violence. Right relationships that recognize the divine image throughout all creation are the work of justice and peacemaking, leading to abundant, full, and everlasting life for all creation.

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In response to God’s good news, The Giving Circle Church commits itself to just peacemaking.  We believe that the practice of peace begins with the Spirit working in us, and is impossible apart from the presence of God.

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• We will live as people of hope, knowing that we are part of God’s work to heal and transform the world through abundant, divine love.

• We will treat one another with respect, recognizing that each person is made in the image of God. 

• We will fairly compensate all employees.

• We will respect differences in opinion on how we are to achieve a peaceful world, trusting that each of us is actively discerning our role in good faith.

• We will challenge the ways that the Bible and liturgy has been used to justify violence and we will seek alternative modes of worship and spiritual practice.

• We will spend our resources, including our operating funds and grants, with this vision in mind. We will not support organizations that tolerate or justify the use of violence. 

• Our peacemaking work will target the root causes of conflict: poverty, human rights violations, environmental destruction, ethnic cleansing, forced migration, sexual violence. 

• And where we have benefited from violence or exploitation, we will seek to repent, repair, and reconcile. We will interrogate the ways that we have fallen short of God’s love. We recognize that without justice, there cannot be peace.