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Here is what some people are saying about Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice. If you'd like to endorse PCPJ, please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
“My contact with PCPJ has been one that has informed me and engaged me and has invigorated me and helped me to be excited about something that the Lord has already give me to do, that is, to have justice ministry. I think at time like these we can’t separate justice from salvation, we can’t separate being filled with the Holy Spirit from being active in the world. These kinds of endeavors that PCPJ is emphasizing have been a blessing to me and can be a great blessing to the church. I want to encourage PCPJ and believers everywhere to look to it as a resource so that the Lord might begin to a great and wonderful and marvelous work the likes of which we’ve never seen before.” Rev. Dr. Mark VC Taylor “We’re living in a time where violence is very prevalent in our society. In our cities and on the national and international stage it is very important that Christians gather around the concepts of peace, nonviolence, and justice to dialogue and reflect on these issues. That’s why a peace conference is so important and PCPJ is very valuable. That’s why I’ve come to this fellowship and it’s been a blessing to think about and reflect on these issues. And to think about what I will do about it, and what Jesus told us to do in loving our enemies. God bless you.”
When I first heard “Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice”, I was startled to hear all those words side by side. But this group is a refreshing, eclectic gathering of friends cutting across the walls of denomination, race, and class and wrestling with the realities of the world we live in -- a world of genocides, wars and rumors of wars, not unlike the world that the baby Refugee of Nazareth was born into. It’s not everyday that you find a group so spiritually vibrant and intellectually grounded as PCPJ. And it’s good to know that in this world of contradictions like “holy wars”, “smart bombs” and “friendly fire”... that “peaceful pentecostals” is not among them. Yet another sign of a Church that is a little closer to the poor, and a little further from the drums of war... A Church whose Gospel is actually “good news.”
“Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice is a group seeking to restore the teachings and practices of the New Testament Church. That was the motivation of the early Pentecostals and the Assemblies of God. Things such as social equality and justice, benevolence ministries, racial reconciliation, conflict resolution, commitment to Christian community, and a life of nonviolence are discussed and promoted. It will shake your world and challenge your thinking about Jesus Christ, Christianity, the Church and ministry. If you think there must be more to Christianity than what we see and experience here in the USA, this group is for you. Get on board and experience the adventure!” Rev. Daniel Timmerman “I think that Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice is enormously important. I think that peacemaking is one of the central things that Jesus called us to do. He called us to love our enemies, that’s not easy to do but in fact it’s central to his message. And I’m just excited that there’s a growing circle of Pentecostals and Charismatics who are lifting it up and focusing on it, calling all of their own people and the church in general to be more engaged with Jesus’ call to peacemaking, so bless you, it’s important!”
"Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice is a very important initiative based on the words of Christ, 'Happy are the peacemakers, for they will be known as the children of God'. Most early Pentecostals were pacifists and espoused a philosophy of non-violence. They often did this at great personal sacrifice. In these days of 'wars and rumors of wars', there is an urgent need for a prophetic call to peacemaking such as this Fellowship provides. I am honored to be associated with such a movement. May it sound a clarion call to the church to withdraw its active and implicit support of force and violence in the policies of government and to follow Jesus' principles of peace." Allan Anderson, Ph.D. "Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice calls us to be effective witnesses to the most powerful idea that the body of Christ can offer to a broken and dying world--Jesus reconciled us, all of us to the Father. No matter what political proclivities, what ethnic, racial, gender we claim, we are all reconciled to the Father. Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice is living out this witness by calling on us to reconcile ourselves to a peaceful world, a reconciled world that acknowledges past sins of racism and sexism. As an important voice of change and of hope, the Pentecostal Peace Fellowship merits your attention and support."
"In 1968, during the Vietnam War, I registered as a conscientious objector to military service and stood before a draft board in Monroe, Louisiana, armed with my Bible and my copy of the Church of God Minutes which read, 'We believe that nations can and should settle their differences without going to war...'. During the following 35 years of reflection and action as a Pentecostal student and missionary educator in Latin America and beyond, I have become more and more convinced of the vailidity of that statement and the need to form Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice to address a broad range of issues related to peace, justice, human liberation, and social transformation. Finally, after years of dreaming and working, we are seeing the early Pentecostal vision for peacemaking come full circle. The formation of Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice gives me hope during a most difficult time in which the White, middle-class Pentecostal church in the United States and elsewhere has capitulated to the militarism and economic imperialism of the dominant culture of death, and has lost its counter-cultural, prophetic witness. Thank God, that witness continues to find its voice among Gen-X, Majority-World, Latino/a, and African-American Pentecostals, and now through Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice ."
"I give thanks for the formation of Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice . We are called to follow Jesus, who calls us all to be peacemakers, and I pray that PCPJ can help churches form their own peacemaker groups and help recover and deepen and make more articulate the original Pentecostal vision of peacemaking and nonviolence. Being part of an inward-journey, outward-journey peacemaker group in my church has deepened my own prayer life and my joy at mutual support and shared discipleship more than I can say."
"In a world blighted by war and rumors of war, Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice stands as a beacon of hope. PCPJ is not just another voice for peace. That in itself would be enough and worthy of great commendation. But PCPJ is a voice that grounds its call for peace--and for peaceful resolution of conflict--in the cross of Christ and in the upside-down kingdom which we have been called to embrace. For this, it deserves the support of Christians everywhere."
"There are many ways to express a belief and a commitment to Jesus Christ as the foundation of Christian life that seeks justice nonviolently. I rejoice in the formation of Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice . I pray that it may flourish abundantly, spreading through the Pentecostal Movement and then beyond, as it grows to inspire other fellowship traditions as well."
"A few years ago while on retreat I sensed the Lord telling me that he wanted me to connect with my Pentecostal roots. I became disabled with rheumatoid arthritis at age 16. My church and I prayed for healing for several years. Eventually I came to believe that while the Lord could still heal me he was not choosing to do so through altar calls. So I stopped answering altar calls. The silence after every prayer time when I was not healed was too painful. Eventually the Lord led me to a Mennonite intentional community, Plow Creek Fellowship, and while I still struggle with rheumatoid arthritis the Lord has given me an utterly amazing life to live.... The only way I can describe it is that I was not healed but I have been given a miraculous life to live. I've been so grateful for my Pentecostal upbringing and the deep faith I was grounded in as a child. Now I find out that peace-making is truly part of my Pentecostal roots. Wow."
"I am thankful that Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice has been formed to help spread the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I truly believe that through the efforts of this group we will be able to have fruitful dialogue with pastors, leaders, and lay people about the importance of standing for peace, even in difficult times. The pentecostal heritage is full of people who were commited not just to keeping peace, but making peace. This initiative will help people see that as followers of Christ we must not only focus on the avoidance of bloodshed, but we must also strive to see justice brought to the poor, neglected, and hopeless. It is exciting to be a part of a group of people who look beyond themselves to the outskirts of society, just as Jesus did."
"Committed to following the Way of Jesus, Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice revives the classical Pentecostal practice of peacemaking and gender/racial equality, and justice. Embodying the words of Paul to "reconcile" a broken and hurting world (2 Cor. 5.18), the Fellowship seeks to apply solid, biblical teaching to difficult, real-world experiences. In this, the fellowship functions for pastors and laity, as well as for academicians and students. As people of the Spirit, baptized by the Spirit, empowered Spirit, I implore you to look to the Spirit of Peace, as witnessed in Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice, in your journey toward reconciliation."
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