Reconciliation

---

WHAT'S HAPPENING

 

The International Reconciliation Coalition is a rapidly growing worldwide network that deals with conflict in a Christian way. Our focus is on the corporate as well as the personal. Beginning in 1990 the International Reconciliation Coalition began to rapidly expand as it linked together leaders in the prayer movements with a call to reconciliation.

 

Individuals can hurt each other through selfish and unjust behavior, but it is also possible for a wound to be sustained by a nation or a people group within a nation. Animosity and bitterness sometimes festers unresolved for generations. The Native Americans, for example, the host people of the U.S.A., have been severely wounded by government, the church and society.

If we have broken our covenants with God and violated our relationships with

one another; the path to reconciliation must begin with individual acts of

confession. Paradoxically, the greatest wounds in human history, the greatest

injustices, have not happened through the acts of some individual perpetrator;

rather through the institutions, systems, philosophies, cultures, religions and

governments of humankind. Because of this, we, as individuals, are tempted

to absolve ourselves of all individual responsibility.

 

However, unless somebody chooses to identify themselves with corporate

entities, such as the nation of our citizenship, or the subculture of our

ancestors, the act of honest confession will never take place. This leaves us in

a world of injury and offense in which no corporate sin is ever

acknowledged, reconciliation never begins and old hatreds deepen.

INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES

 

The initiatives fall into four categories or series dealing with the future, the present and the past. The Forerunner series responds to trends likely to result in conflict or injustice. The Contemporary Issues series responds to current group conflicts. The 20th Century series responds to the antagonisms rooted in the events of the 20th Century and the Ancient Gates series deals with the catalytic events and seasons of human history that lie at the root of ongoing hostility between civilizations, cultures, peoples and institutions.

 

Our Coalition office in Southern California helps with research, training and the networking of experts and materials for the growing number of prayer journeys to volatile parts of the world. An initiative is launched when people begin praying about a major reconciliation issue and then take action together. The I.R.C. helps such people to find each other and to learn from other intercessors within the network.

 

There are now 42 major initiatives gaining momentum, one of the most significant being the "Reconciliation Walk" a response to the 900th anniversary of the Crusades. European Intercessors have begun to walk the routes of the crusades from west to east, carrying proclamations of repentance to Muslim and Jewish communities for the slaughter done in Christ's name. The response has been mind boggling. Identificational Repentance is proving to be the key to doors closed to the gospel for centuries.

 

Some of the other Initiatives include:

 

1. Japanese intercessors traveling to the Asian cities which were devastated by the Imperial Army during World War II.

 

2. Scottish and English intercessors dealing with historic conflicts between the two nations as well as Catholic / Reformed; Highland / Lowland issues.

 

3. Western American intercessors dealing with Chinese issues centered on Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay. (Equivalent to New York's Ellis Island).

 

4. Easterners dealing with the civil war hurts that continue to divide North and South.

 

5. United Kingdom issues dealing with England, Wales, N.Ireland, Ireland and Colonial and Imperial woundings.

 

6. Prayer journeys to the sites where Native Americans were oppressed or massacred.

 

7. A James River initiative involving the historic roots and foundations of colonial America. Including prayer journeys extending from Jamestown to Richmond.

 

8. Multiple initiatives involving English and French reconciliation in Canada.

 

9. A World Congress of Indigenous Peoples in New Zealand. Dealing with reconciliation between indigenous peoples and colonial peoples.

 

10. After 1,800 years we again have communities of Messianic Jews so there is an initiative dealing with the first significant split in church history between the Messianic Jewish community and Gentile believers of the 2nd century.

 

11. An ongoing series of initiatives in Australia involving historic re-enactment's and prayer gatherings dealing with some of the more wounding instances in colonial history of conflict in Male/Female relationships.

 

12. One of the initiatives involves a series of prayer journeys to the historic slave ports of West Africa where black and white Americans will no doubt weep together, learn together and find an intimacy that has alluded less radical believers.

 

We would like to see several thousand believers take this trip in the next 10 years. What a difference that would make. Why? Because radical steps like this are needed to break through the wall of cynicism and ignorance now hedging us in.

 

John Dawson recently took the opportunity to ask forgiveness for the sins of his people group (he is an anglo) to an African American grandmother sitting next to him on a plane. He learned that her own great grandmother was once sold as an 8 year old at the slave auction in Richmond, Virginia. She was cool to him at first but then suddenly opened up. It was not the fact that he writes books or addresses politicians that opened her heart, it was when she heard that he had lived for 20 years in her community that she saw an authenticity beyond kind words.

 

You probably can't live as he has lived but you could spend a few days in Ghana and Togo on a prayer journey. If you are a European American, that, believe us would say something to your African American neighbors that words alone will never communicate.

 

In summary, this is what our staff and volunteers do:

 

A. Publishing an annual inventory of conflicts by category (Distributed to all reps, ad hoc coalitions and affiliated organizations)

 

B. Identifying and networking contributing specialists

i.e. Langston Gatsi,

University of Zimbabwe

 

C. Appointing issues coordinators

i.e. Jean Steffenson, Indigenous Peoples Office, Castle Rock, Colorado

 

D. Appointing Regional Coordinators

i.e. Rudy and Marny Pohl, Ottawa, Canada

 

E. Recognizing and supporting ad hoc coalitions dealing with special issues

i.e. Reconciliation Walk

900th Anniversary of the Crusades

 

F. Mobilizing prayer journeys for transregional reconciliation events

i.e. Historic West African slave ports

 

G. Updating the list of affiliated and contributing organizations and ministries by focus

i.e. Indigenous Peoples: "Joshua Connection Research," Victoria, Canada

 

H. Endorsing periodic regional consultations and international events

i.e. First Global Conference of Indigenous Peoples, Rotorua, New Zealand, 1996

 

I. Distributing inspirational and instructional materials that encourage reconciliation initiatives and lifestyles

i.e. "Reconciler" magazine and books such as Healing Americaís Wounds.

 

 

Our purpose is not primarily to coordinate, but to be advocates, to educate Christians, and to communicate about and commend reconciliation efforts.

 

HOW DO I GET INVOLVED

 

Formal organization is kept to a minimum. People who trust each other form an alliance around a major reconciliation issue and take action together. We help such people find each other. Do you have a heartfelt concern for a reconciliation issue? Do you have skills that you could contribute?

 

Begin by Reading our Reconciler's handbook Healing America's Wounds. This is available at your local Christian bookstore or through our office at the address below, and now the Internet . As you read about the experiences of other reconcilers, think about how your own unique identity could contribute to the healing of the nations.

P.O.Box 3278 - Ventura,CA 93006-3278 - USA
 
 

Phone: (805) 642-5327 - Fax: (805) 642-2588 - Email: ircinfo@reconcile.org

---

 
 

in New Zealand: Houhanga Rongo Ministeries

Email: houhanga@clear.net.nz

Direct your email to Across Pacific Magazine