The Reconciliation Walk is a diverse network of Christians who desire to fulfill the biblical mandate for reconciliation and peace. Our emphasis is on restoring relationships across boundaries of civilization, nation, and culture, by addressing the mythologies and stereotypes that breed enmity.
By bringing people together at the grassroots, we wish to emphasize our common humanity. We resist characterizations of others that are dehumanizing, especially abstract labels that appear to remove others from membership in their God-given human family. We believe that each life is as valuable as the next, no matter on what side of the border the person was born. We believe that God is most highly glorified in man’s humility, and that the cornerstone of humility is esteem for others.
Finally, we are a movement of faith; we do not believe that any rift is beyond repair. We repudiate the pessimistic assumption that violence is inevitable. Our faith is in a God who promises victory by redemption and reconciliation. We believe this promise.
This movement was born in response to the 900th anniversary of the Crusades, an epoch that represents the failure of the Church to embody Christ’s ministry of reconciliation. Through an apology and thousands of face-to-face meetings between Western Christians and Muslims, Jews and Eastern Christians, we sought to erode the bitter legacy and mythologies of enmity that originated with the Crusades.
Our Objectives:
To affirm that Jesus Christ is not the enemy of the peoples of the Middle East, to clarify his true nature to the people’s of the Middle East.
To challenge ideologies and actions which confuse Christ with nationalism, political power, military power, or domination.
To champion actions demonstrating the nature of Christ’s non-worldly kingdom: acts of service in place of domination, and self-sacrifice in place of self-interest.
To unmask mythologies of enmity that developed as a result of historical Christians who did not fulfill the vision of Christ’s Kingdom, who instead acted as a self-interested, dominating, coercive worldly power.
To humanize relationships. Jesus Christ emphasized the value of humanity as created in the image of God. Humility and compassion toward one another preceded ideological, national or religious judgment in Christ’s relationship models. He described authority that serves and dies for the human, rather than demanding that people serve a corporate hierarchy or ideology.
Our Methods:
1. Identification of and apologies for historical Christian offenses that affect relationships today.
2. Identification of contemporary behavior and ideologies that confuse national self-interest with the values of Jesus Christ; especially examples of such behavior and ideology that are explicitly supported as if they were morally Christian by ill-advised representatives of the Christian faith.
3. Education of Christians and followers of Christ who may then make better judgments in the future.
4. Grassroots encounters between Western Christians and those who are alienated from Christ’s faith. It is our conviction that introducing historical enemies in face-to face encounters contributes to peace and better understanding of each other and one another’s faiths. Face-to-face encounters undermine historical myths and abstract constructions of enmity that permit violence against others when seen only as a group.
5. Humanitarian service to others, especially historical enemies. Service emphasizes the human value of others.
Our Program:
1. Field Trips: Short exposure tours for Christians. Participants meet with members of other faith communities in Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and the Holy Land.
2. Training: Empowering others to live a life of reconciliation. Training, sending and supporting teams of Western Christians who have skills which are valuable for reducing suffering and enhancing appropriate development, especially in areas that have been negatively impacted by the policies and actions of Western nations.
3. Activism: Raising historical and contemporary issues that create and maintain enmity between peoples through symbolic action.
4. Leadership Encounters: Bringing together leaders of the faith communities in an informal setting.
5. Information: Distributing statements on contemporary issues relating to reconciliation and peace.