Featured Ministry The Alban Institute builds up congregations and their leaders to be agents of grace and transformation to shape and heal the world through publishing, workshops, online activities, education, consulting, research etc. More Current Articles in Holistic Ministry: • Intervarsity Christian Fellowship: What Campus Ministry Should Be by Al Tizon • Reflections from a Summer Standing Against Gun Violence by Mark Reiff • Ramadan 2010: Appreciating Ahmadi Muslims’ Call for Nonviolence by Al Tizon • Can One Follow Christ and Reject the church? Your Responses by Al Tizon

The recent bombings in Kampala, Uganda, which killed at least 90 people who were watching the World Cup championship game between Spain and the Netherlands, are yet another reminder that we are indeed living in an age of terrorism. 

Not that the cycle of conflict, violence, bloodshed and revenge has not been going around and around since Cain killed Abel; terrorism is simply the word we use for it today. Many Christians in Uganda join the impulse to strike back at the Somalian warlords who have taken responsibility for the bombings, but other Christians, such as Kato Mivule, are pleading with fellow Ugandan Christians to employ the gospel’s radical call for peace in a violent world. 

Christianity Today’s David Neff recently wrote an article featuring the Awad family in Palestine; the Awads also strive for peace through Christ-centered nonviolent action.

Such articles, which demonstrate that some Christians actually get the integral connection between peace and the gospel, give me hope that we can indeed be the signposts of God’s coming peace.  

Read PRISM Magazine’s coverage of nonviolence in Palestine, from the March/April 2009 issue: 

Peace Fighters

by Robert Hirschfield

Muslims, Jews, and Christians: Together they are working to dismantle peacefully the structures that fuel Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.

Liberating the Oppressor

by Sami Awad

A Palestinian Christian explains why turning the other cheek is the most powerful—and ultimately most effective—weapon against violence. 

Questions for reflection:

Prior to reading these articles, what were your preconceptions about nonviolence in Israel-Palestine? Has your impression now changed? 

What in these stories struck you the most? 

What are some situations/places in your own life where you could begin to practice nonviolence (that includes attitudes as well as physical approaches)? What would that look like?