|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
INTRODUCING FRIENDS PEACE TEAMS PROJECTCentral to Friends' faith and experience is the Peace Testimony. Recognizing the fundamental importance of this witness to the spiritual integrity of the Religious Society of Friends, a group of Friends attending Friends General Conference in 1993 founded the Friends Peace Teams Project (FPTP) to promote and support peace work by Friends in Monthly Meetings and Friends Churches.
Friends have been active in many peacemaking initiatives during the past decades. FPTP draws upon our experience with projects such as Peace Brigades International(PBI), Witness for Peace(WFP), and the Mennonite-Brethren Christian Peacemaker Teams(CPT). The Alternatives to Violence Project(AVP) is the underlying training for our work. Recognizing that the need for peacemaking is great in our own communities as well as abroad, FPTP is developing the concept of "Every Meeting House and Friends Church a Peace Center" to address peace making at all levels.
To encourage peace team work among members of the Religious Society of Friends, FPTP assists individual Quakers in developing and/or supporting their interests in peace team projects. The Monthly Meeting or Friends Church of the interested individual is expected to consider itself a major part of his/her support system. Forms of support for individuals and their Churches and Monthly Meetings include: resources for attaining clearness, for setting up oversight and support committees, and for discerning or developing the spiritual basis of peace team work. FPTP can also put potential participants in touch with trainers and training programs and with other volunteers
So far, the main activity currently on our agenda is the Africa Great Lakes Initiative (AGLI). AGLI has sponsored AVP trainings in Uganda and Burundi and is in the initial stages of establishing a trauma center in Bujumbura, Burundi, as a preliminary necessity to establishing a center for nonviolence training there. In this they are working in close cooperation with Burundi and Uganda Yearly Meetings. FPTP is also taking exploratory steps towards a Friends' project in Colombia.
FPTP also facilitates opportunities for individual Friends to join the peace teams of our partner groups, PBI, WFP, and CPT, in other parts of the world. The Quaker component for their witness is of equal importance under these circumstances.
The FPTP Coordinating Council, made up of named representatives of 14 Yearly Meetings across the spectrum of Friends' 'branches' in our faith community, is the planning group for the organization. It meets twice each year in various parts of the country ands holds conference calls in alternate months between meetings. FPTP is affiliated with Friends World Committee for Consultation-Section of the Americas and participates in the Quaker Volunteer Service and Witness Network.
FPTP issues a newsletter, Peace Team News, three times annually; it is distributed to Monthly Meetings and Churches of the fourteen participating Yearly Meetings across the country. Our website is www.fptp.org.
FPTP training and work is voluntary with a modest operating budget. WE maintain a small office in San Antonnio TX, staffed by Val Liveoak. Baltimore Yearly Meeting provides fiscal administration.
For further information, please contact PYM's representatives to the FPTP Coordinating Committee: George Willoughby, 856-227-5723, geowilby@juno.com; Gail Newbold, 610-869-3455, gnewbold@kennett.net; Rick Grier-Reynolds, 302-529-0534, rickgr@dol.net; and Mary Arnett, 215-474-2171, mhfarnett@hotmail.com
Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:18 AM