Posted
Peacebuilding and Reconciliation as Shared Global Convictions
By Aubrey Kreider, LM Director of Marketing
J. Nelson Kraybill ‘72 has lived and worked all over the world – teaching in Puerto Rico, pastoring in Vermont and Indiana, guiding tour groups in the Middle East, and developing mediation services in England to name a few. Many persons from the global Anabaptist church may be more familiar with him in his roles as President of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical seminary (AMBS) and President of Mennonite World Conference (MWC).
Kraybill fondly recalls his time at Lancaster Mennonite as a place where he developed a deep understanding that “nonviolence and peacemaking were integral parts of faith, not bolt on extras.” LM gave him a grounding in worship, Bible and a faith community.
Kraybill started with MWC in 2003 when he was invited to go to the global assembly to be the North American theologian on a commission with six people from five continents to develop a set of succinct shared convictions. This group distilled from the global confessions of faith, the core convictions of global Mennonites. Reconciliation and peace are core to who we are as Mennonites and Anabaptists, and a key part of these Shared Convictions. For him, developing these Shared Convictions was extremely important work and a contribution with enduring value for the life of the Anabaptist church.
He sees the Anabaptist tradition and heritage as precious, courageous, biblical and relevant to issues of our world. Five years ago he started a blog, Peace Pilgrim: https://peace-pilgrim.com where he publishes articles on how he is seeing God’s healing and hope in the world.
