From Feb. 21-23, 2025, the 91短视频 Peace Fellowship club will host the Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship (ICPF) conference. This student-led weekend conference brings together students and faculty from Mennonite, Brethren, and Quaker colleges across the U.S. and Canada to examine issues of peace and justice.

The theme for the 2025 ICPF is 鈥淏uilding Solidarity: From Turtle Island to Palestine.鈥� Many students from the schools represented at the conference participate in organizations such as  and the 鈥攐rganizations that are working to build Palestine and Indigenous solidarities, respectively. The 2025 ICPF will give students an opportunity to learn more about these movements, educate students about organizing and movement-building, and foster connections to encourage activism on home campuses and in home communities.

Keynote speakers at this event include the co-founders and organizers of Mennonite Action, Nick Martin and Adam Ramer, as well as a longtime member of the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery, Lars 脜kerson. Their keynote addresses will be held in Martin Chapel at 91短视频鈥檚 Seminary Building, with different sessions taking place throughout the building.

The conference workshops will provide space for more in-depth conversations with Mennonite Action and the Coalition, as well as a time to hear from other practitioners about the solidarity work they engage in. Some of the workshops include creative approaches to decolonial peacebuilding in South America, Palestine solidarity work in Harrisonburg, and a student panel with a mix of justice-related topics.

Renae Benner, one of the 91短视频 students helping organize the ICPF, looks forward to meeting other students who 鈥渃are deeply about peace and justice issues.鈥� She hopes those who attend the conference will 鈥渓eave feeling inspired to take action for peace and be informed about how to do that.鈥� Many faculty and students at 91短视频 care deeply about seeking peace and justice, she added, making the university well-suited to host this conference.

91短视频 last hosted the ICPF in February 2020 and before that in 2014. Generally, participating institutions take turns hosting the conference every year, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference has not been held since 2020. The conference planning committee is excited about restarting the conference and looks forward to building new connections during this time.

Visit the Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship webpage to find more information about the schedule or register for the conference.

Participants at ICPF are expected to come from Mennonite colleges and universities including Hesston College, Bluffton University, Goshen College, Bethel College, Canadian Mennonite University, and Conrad Grebel University; other Anabaptist, Quaker, and Brethren universities such as Messiah College, Elizabethtown College, and Manchester University; and other colleges in the Harrisonburg area such as James Madison University and Bridgewater College.

This event reflects 91短视频’s commitment to its core value of peace and justice by providing a platform for students and faculty to engage in critical conversations, build meaningful connections, and take tangible steps toward transformative change in their communities and beyond.

Read a preview of the event in the Daily News-Record .

This year鈥檚 ICPF gathering provided space for students to examine whose voices are heard and whose are missing across a range of peace and justice issues. Using the theme 鈥淣othing about Us without Us,鈥� participants addressed questions both about the 鈥渨hat鈥� of justice and peacebuilding as well as the 鈥渉ow,鈥� asking questions like: who belongs? who鈥檚 in and who鈥檚 out? How does this work address root causes and structures like imperialism, capitalism, white supremacy, and patriarchy?

The conference keynote was Erica Littlewolf. Littlewolf opened the conference Friday evening and also closed it Sunday morning. She is Northern Cheyenne from southeastern Montana who works for Mennonite Central Committee’s Indigenous Visioning Circle. She has extensive experience with indigenous issues globally and is applies her life experience, with formal and informal education to social justice issues and how they affect Indigenous people, especially women.

Littlewolf shared several stories in response to the question of 鈥渉ow鈥� we do justice and peacebuilding work, drawing from her personal experiences as well as the experiences of her community.

“Littlewolf was one of the most inspiring speakers I’ve heard in a long time,” said 91短视频 student Clara Weybright. “She left me energized and challenged me, in particular, to think about the ways in which indigenous stories are held and shared. I was so grateful that 91短视频 had the opportunity to host her. I hope I cross paths with her in the future.”

Another 91短视频 student Mariana Martinez-Hernandez, named some take-aways: “We must decentralize humans. By paying attention to how the world can benefit from us rather than the other way around, we can gain insight on how every single thing works interconnectedly. Erica’s stories led to the constant reminder to listen to our bodies and our body- God, Earth, Plants, Animals, Humans. Us. We must listen from the heart.”

The Saturday morning program included a panel with participants from a number of local community organizations in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, including representatives from Fuego Coalition, Coming to the Table, Church World Service, and Faith in Action. 

Throughout the day, conference participants also joined a number of break out sessions. These sessions provided space for participants to share from their own experiences. Session topics included sexual health, remembrance-based justice, housing insecurity, Hegelian representations in film, epigenetic healing, and interfaith engagement.

Saturday evening offered a film screening of the film Dawnland, a documentary about the first official 鈥渢ruth and reconciliation commission鈥� in the United States addressing the history of state agencies forcibly removing Native American children from their communities. The discussion that followed identified the challenges and importance of truth-telling and reparation for historic harms in the work of justice and peacebuilding.

Littlewolf closed the conference Sunday morning sharing reflections and observations on the weekend, encouraging participants to honor the stories that were shared by continuing the work of peace and justice in their own lives and communities.聽

91短视频 student leadership for this year’s conference came from Lindsay Acker, Elena Bernardi, Anisa Leonard, and Emily Powell. Peacebuilding and Development graduate Jacob Lester served as conference coordinator. Support was provided by a number of groups on campus including Peace Fellowship, the Orie Miller Center, and the Center for Interfaith Engagement.

Joining Wilder in Colombia were four other 91短视频 students, each placed with a different peacebuilding group: Alyssa Moyer, with Edupaz in Cali; Liana Hershey, with Sembrandopaz, Sincelejo; Hannah Mack-Boll, Mencoldes, Bogota; and Anna Messer, Creciendo Juntos and Pan Y Vida, Soacha.

In a recent blog post for , shared below with permission, Wilder writes about joining her colleagues and other revelers in the streets of Plaza Bolivar to celebrate the June 23 signing of the bilateral ceasefire agreement between the national government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Next semester, Wilder will be the Central America and Colombia Security intern with the Latin American Working Group, while she lives and studies at the . Through staying updated on Colombian news and participating in peace vigils, Wilder continues to be an ally for Colombian peace efforts. She is interested in a career as an international human rights attorney

鈥淚’m hoping to return to Latin America soon and continue learning and doing whatever is in my power to help,鈥� says Wilder.

‘Asking for the Impossible: A Lesson from Colombia’

This summer I had the privilege of working at a human rights office called Justapaz (just peace) in Bogota, Colombia in the midst of the final negotiations of the Colombian peace accords.

The Colombian government has spent the last six years trying to negotiate a peace deal with the largest guerilla group in the country, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarios de Colombia (FARC or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). In the midst of these negotiations came a historic day: the signing of a bilateral ceasefire between the Colombian government and the FARC, signaling an end to over 50 years of war.

In our matching white t-shirts, my coworkers and I left the office on the day of the signing of the ceasefire to go to Plaza Bolivar to celebrate with other Colombians in the midst of making history. Surrounded by chants of 鈥渧iva la paz,鈥� balloons, and the ecstasy of thousands of people celebrating a long-awaited end to war, we watched as President Santos of Colombia and FARC leader Timochenko signed these peace accords.

I cannot even begin to describe the extreme honor it was to share in the joy of generations of people who have only known war seeing the beginnings of peace. There is no ink nor code that will ever capture the sanctity of that moment that will forever live in my heart.

When the buzz of the crowd died down, my coworkers and I returned to the office to celebrate within our smaller community. We sang, gave thanks to God and shared our reflections on this blissful moment. The director of Justapaz, Jenny, gave the first words of our celebration.

Jenny talked about how, 12 years ago, she joined a campaign called Pan y Paz (Bread and Peace) to pass out bread to Colombian people on the International Day of Peace as a sign of goodwill and hope for peace. Twelve years ago, the idea of peace in Colombia seemed all but impossible. After decades of war and in the midst of Plan Colombia, all seemed hopeless back then; yet today here we all sat celebrating the end of the war. Jenny鈥檚 eyes teared up as she looked around the room in astonishment and disbelief of the moment.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not unreasonable to ask for impossible things,鈥� she said.

After walking alongside people who hoped when all seemed hopeless, acted for justice at their own expense, and built peace from the ground up, it鈥檚 been hard adjusting back to a culture of pragmatism, utilitarianism and sometimes apathy here in the United States.

Faith in the United States often is less a matter of conviction and more a means to get through our day. This often causes me to ask the question, what does being a person of faith really mean in our context?

Faith is asking for impossible things.

It鈥檚 asking for reconciliation after what is seemingly the worst election in our history. Faith is daring to wonder what a world might look like when people with differing views and lifestyles can come to the table in peace. Being a person of faith is thinking beyond the reality we live in.

In this season of cynicism, this age of agony, and this time of trouble, I cannot help but be hopeful, not because of the security of my place in heaven, but because the impossible is coming on earth.

鈥淚n the world, but not of the world鈥� is no longer a phrase referring to my eternal citizenship, but rather the idealism and optimism that the improbable can happen on earth when logic and reason would state otherwise.

Colombia is still waiting for peace. They have yet to implement the peace accords (the plebecite vote failed by a narrow margin), negotiate a peace deal with the Ejercito Liberaci贸n Nacional (ELN) National Liberation Army and ensure justice for those who have been affected by the war.

But when you look at the peacemakers鈥搃ndividuals who are protesting, camping out in the streets and fighting for peace with every ounce of their spirit鈥揾ow could you not believe in something beyond this world?

The theme of the conference is “Peace in practice: What does it look like when our theories become action?”

“Lisa’s example of聽field work with local, international, and systems-based conflicts is inspirational for college students,” says Christine Baer, a conference co-organizer and a senior and major.

Schirch and other speakers will focus on building peace at all levels, from local to international, and integrating this work into art and other forms of community engagement.

91短视频 Lisa Schirch

In her role at the Alliance for Peacebuildling, Schirch connects policymakers with global civil society networks, facilitates civil-military dialogue, and provides a conflict prevention and peacebuilding lens on current policy issues.

Schirch is also a research professor at .

She has conducted conflict assessments and participated in peacebuilding planning alongside local colleagues in more than 20 countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Kenya, Ghana, and Fiji.

Schirch works primarily with small local NGOs and civil society organizations. Schirch also has worked as a consultant on conflict assessment and peacebuilding planning for large entities, such as the , the World Bank, several branches of the U.S. government, the U.S. Foreign Service Institute, and many other international organizations.

She holds a BA in international relations from the University of Waterloo in Canada and an MS and a PhD in conflict analysis and resolution from George Mason University.

Drama that entertains and informs

“I’d Like to Buy an Enemy” will be performed by on Friday, Jan. 31, at 8 p.m., in the MainStage Theater in University Commons.

The play, starring Ted Swartz, MDiv ’92, and Tim Ruebke MA ’99 (), allows audiences to laugh at themselves while raising important questions about the place of the United States in the world, confronting the fear that is such a large part of contemporary culture, and exploring ways to honestly work for peace and justice in this country.

Tickets are $8 for general audience and $5 for 91短视频 faculty and staff. 91短视频 students and conference attendees are free, if they show their identifications.

Ted and Company will also host university chapel on Friday at 10 a.m.

Organizers

The Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship Conference is sponsored and organized by , a student organization that organizes campus-wide activities, regular space to share meals and discussions, and special speakers to spark meaningful dialogue. For more information about the conference or Peace Fellowship, contact the applied social sciences department.

Conference details

The program will open on Friday, Jan. 31, at 7 p.m., and end on Sunday, Feb. 2, at 1 p.m. Participating schools include Bluffton University in Ohio; Conrad Grebel College in Canada; Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania; Goshen College in Indiana; Hesston College in Kansas; and Messiah College in Pennsylvania.

Workshops will be offered on a wide range of topics, including 鈥淎 Subversive Shalom: Enacting Radical Peace” with and ; “Home Front: the Untold History of Radical Veteran Peacemaking” with ; and “: Promoting Personal Growth and Community Well-Being” with Philip Fisher Rhodes and Ron Copeland.

Other topics to be covered range from “The Relationship Between Islam and Peace” and “Restorative Justice in Our Schools” to “Arts, Theater, and Peacebuilding.”

Most sessions will be held in of the seminary building and seminary classrooms.

Creating connections

“We expect this conference to be a time of sharing stories and experiences at all levels, with many practical applications of peacebuilding,” said Krista Nyce, an 91短视频 senior major and conference co-organizer. “We have heard a lot in the classroom about theories and have debated concepts; thus we hope this can be a time to build on those with realistic accounts of speakers鈥� varied involvements from local organizations to experiences of national organizing, from art to restorative justice to education.”

and a is available . is also available.

For more information on the conference visit or email: emupeacefellowship@gmail.com.

This year’s gathering will focus on the theme, “Backyard Peacebuilding – Cultivating Peace in Our Neighborhoods.”

Keynote speaker

Nicholas Stoddard, a 2007 91短视频 graduat, will give the keynote address

Nicholas Stoddard of Harrisonburg, a 2007 91短视频 graduate, will give a keynote address 9 a.m. Friday, Feb. 19, and speak several additional times on the conference theme.

Stoddard received first place in the bi-national C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical contest his senior year. His oration focused on how one’s actions have direct effect on others, even those at a great distance. He is currently is a first-year student in the master of divinity program at Eastern Mennonite Seminary.

Conference details

The program, entirely organized by students in 91短视频’s Peace Fellowship, will open 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18 and end noon Saturday, Feb. 20. Participating schools include Conrad Grebel College, Ont.; Bluffton (Ohio) University; Goshen (Ind.) College; Hesston (Kan.) College; and Messiah College, Grantham, Pa.

Workshops will be offered on a wide range of topics from “Conflict as a Metaphor for Peacebuilding” and “A Biblical Perspective on Immigration” to “Biking as Peacebuilding” and “Morally Responsible Investment” and others.

Most sessions will be held in Martin Chapel of the seminary building and seminary classrooms.

Full schedule of events

Creating connections

The purpose of the conference is “to gather together fellow students who care about issues of peace and justice,” said 91短视频 senior Jennifer K. (Jenny) Hochstetler, conference co-organizer. “These students are our peers, soon to be colleagues, and this will be a great time to connect and build relationships as well as have meaningful discussions on being active in building peace in our own neighborhoods,” she added.

Participants have been invited to remain on campus until Sunday. Those who do will take part in a service activity Saturday afternoon, making relief kits for Haiti.

For more information on the conference, contact co-organizers Kate Nussbaum, kate.nussbaum@emu.edu, or Jenny Hochstetler, jennifer.hochstetler@emu.edu.

Peace Fellowship is a student organization that organizes campus-wide activities, regular space to share meals and discussions, and special speakers to spark meaningful dialogue.

Read more…

On Tuesday nights, a small group of students gather on 91短视频’s hill to take part in “prayerfully sleeping” on the hill, which is a branch of peacekeepers. The group generally has a discussion about an issue related to a specific country or conflict with a focus on refugees.

“We take time to do something that isn’t comfortable to remember other people who aren’t in comfort,” first-year and co-leader Rebekah Enns said. There are three leaders altogether: sophomore Lucas Schrock-Hurst, first-year Taylor Weidman, and Enns.

She said the group does it because they desire to be intentional in the world and have a global focus. “It helps us remember that God’s call for our lives is to challenge the society that creates the need for refugees,” she said. “Shelter is something that a lot of people don’t have.”

They also have discussion topics such as “Listening and Conflict,” and sing songs like “My Soul Cries Out.”

The weekly event began as a program with Peace Fellowship, but due to a lack of student involvement and leadership, almost fell through for this semester. Weidman, Enns, and Schrock-Hurst came forward as leaders early last month, and organized the hill meetings.

First-year participant Austin Showalter appreciates the chance to get out of his comfort zone. “It’s kind of fun. It is good to put myself in a place that I’m not usually in,” he said. He sees one of the goals of the group as “raising awareness” about homelessness.

Prayerfully sleeping on the hill takes place every Tuesday night from around 11:30 p.m. until 7 a.m. on Wednesday morning. Believe it or not, they actually try to sleep for a good part of that time!

The group will continue to sleep outside for as long as they can, but when the weather gets really cold they will move into the discipleship center. An average of five to ten students attend per week.

Enns and the other leaders welcome any student to head up the hill on Tuesday nights to experience what sleeping in solidarity with the homeless is all about.

Two 91短视频 student organizations are co-sponsoring an event meant to challenge the 91短视频 and larger community with the issue of economic justice in Israel-Palestine.

J. Daryl and Cindy Byler, Mennonite Central Committee Middle East representatives for Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, and Iran, will speak 8 p.m. Thursday, Mar. 19, in the Common Grounds Coffeehouse in the University Commons.

The couple will focus on facts on the ground following the Israeli offense on Gaza and the larger Israeli occupation, draw connections between U.S. policy and present the need for a morally responsible investment/divestment campaign.

The Bylers will also speak at a forum 3:45-5:15 p.m. Thursday, Mar. 19, in the Strite Conference Room of 91短视频’s Campus Center. They will reflect on MCC’s approach and activities in interfaith bridgebuilding and the challenges they encounter in their work.

Daryl Byler, a 1979 91短视频 graduate, is an attorney and former director of MCC’s Washington, D.C., office. He was named 91短视频’s “alumnus of the year” in 1992.

The 91短视频 Peace Fellowship and Res Judicata student pre-law group are co-sponsoring Wednesday’s program. Thursday’s forum is co-sponsored by the Anabaptist Center for Religion and Society (ACRS) and the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP).

Admission is free to both events.

The simulated refugee tents are meant to create awareness and support for the people of Darfur, Sudan, a region in the western part of the country wracked by military conflict and genocide.

91短视频 Campus Pastor Brian Martin Burkholder (right) talks with student Larisa Zehr and a Tents of Hope spokesman during set-up Tuesday morning.

Peace Fellowship and campus ministries are sponsoring the tents and action/response tables. 91短视频 students, faculty, staff and the broader community are invited to stop in and learn more about Darfar and paint messages of hope and support on a tent.

The tent will be set up and available from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Oct. 7 and 8. Campus pastor Brian Martin Burkholder (phone 432-4196 or e-mail campusministries@emu.edu) is coordinating the event.

The “Tents of Hope” project is a one-year process in which people respond as communities to the crisis in Darfur.

The tents become “unique works of art and ongoing focal points within communities for learning about, assisting and establishing relationships with the people of Sudan,” according to the website, . The tents serve as “points of entry for more concrete forms of Darfur advocacy.”

Small community “Tents of Hope” activities are part of an effort leading up to a national event in Washington, D.C., November 7-9, 2008, where planners hope to draw significant attention to Darfur.

A prayer “tent” will be erected on the front campus near Northlawn Residence Hall, and persons are invited to pray in half-hour time blocks from midnight to midnight. Passersby will be invited to offer their own prayers and to tie prayer flags around the vigil site.

Nicholas Stoddard, a Peace Fellowship co-leader, said this Thursday was chosen for its proximity to both the UN’s International Day of Peace and the concurrent International Day of Prayer for Peace on Sept. 21. The event also coincides with a two-week prayer vigil, Sept. 16-30, coordinated by Christian Peace Witness for Iraq (CPWI), an ecumenical organization with ties to the Sojourners community based in Washington, D.C.

“As a faith-based community, we hope to raise our prayers for the Iraqi people and coalition soldiers while also issuing a public plea for a withdrawal of troops and a shift of budget resources to provide for humanitarian assistance,” Stoddard said. “We hope the vigil makes it clear: we oppose this war because of our deep-rooted faith and belief that God

An 91短视频 graduating senior has received the first “Grant Stoltzfus Peace Award.”

The honor went to Julia R. Gingrich, an major with minors in , political science and from Goshen, Ind. She received a $500 gift.

The award was devised by Dale R. Long, a 1974 91短视频 graduate from Lancaster, Pa., in memory of Grant M. Stoltzfus, who taught church history at the school for 17 years. Dr. Stoltzfus was an authority on church-state relations and war-peace issues and was writing a book on the origins and development of alternative services for conscientious objectors when he died suddenly in July 1974.

Long said that the late 91短视频 professor “was an important influence” on his life as a student, who “not only talked about peace and justice issues but reflected a true Anabaptist vision of peace and non-resistance as a way of life.”

“I am hoping that this annual recognition in Professor Stoltzfus’ memory will help inspire young adults to live out this kind of lifestyle in whatever career path they choose,” he said. The family of the late professor has established an endowment to fund the peace award annually.

To qualify for the award, a candidate must be a current 91短视频 student in good academic standing, pursue a peaceable lifestyle that includes a commitment to peace and reconciliation in personal relationships and has publicly demonstrated a commitment to peace through involvement in peaceful or nonviolent action, working for peaceful transformation of conflicts or being active in or supportive of peacemaking-peacebuilding organizations and manifests a spiritual vitality. 91短视频 faculty and students submitted 15 names for consideration.

“My commitment to peace is fundamentally shaped by a belief in the centrality of relationships,” Ms. Gingrich said. “I believe that Christians are called to be a reconciling and transforming presence in this world by building relationships with people across social divides.”

Gingerich was co-president of 91短视频 Peace Fellowship this year as well as fall semester last year. She was a founding member of “RAIN” (Raising Awareness in Iraq Now), a student-led initiative on campus.

She will be a staff member of 91短视频’s to be held May 7-June 17 before starting a one-year assignment with the SALT (Serving and Learning Together) program at a Coptic-Orthodox retreat center in Egypt under the auspices of Mennonite Central Committee, Akron, Pa. She is a member of Waterford Mennonite Church, Goshen.

by Robert Rhodes, Mennonite Weekly Review

WASHINGTON