"Peace is both a gift and a mission placed upon us by God. Peace, reconciliation, justice, and unity are all at the centre of the gospel, and therefore of Christian ethics. In a biblical understanding, peace is not just the absence of violence but SHALOM: the presence of positive elements such as right relationships, well-being, security, and wholeness. In Jesus Christ, peacemaking is affirmed as both God's way and God's will; committed involvement in peacemaking come hand in hand with discipleship in Jesus Christ. This biblical foundation is essential, and a constant resource for encouragement. It is not the current state of our world or the vision of particular interest groups who place peacemaking on the church's agenda, it is our God." (p 93, Overcoming Violence, World Council of Churches Statements and Actions 1994-2000).

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America describes the Church as a community that is faithful to its calling to work for peace when it acts as a presence for peace that disturbs, reconciles, serves, and deliberates. The Church as a disturbing presence when it speaks the truth in times when people are crying for "Peace, peace, when there is no peace" (Jeremiah 6:14), when it names beliefs and actions that lead to false security, injustice, and war, and when it calls for repentance. The Church is a reconciling presence when it brings conflicting parties together, challenges stereotypes of "the enemy", and encourages imaginative solutions to conflicts. The Church serves when it holds power accountable, advocates justice, stands with those who are poor and vulnerable, calls for compassion in meeting human need, and supports efforts by governments and others to secure a just peace. The Church is a deliberating presence in society, when it fosters moral deliberation and encourages public debate about what is right and good in international and domestic affairs.
(from A Social Statement: For Peace in God's World, adopted in August 1995 by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, www.elca.org/dcs/peacein.html)

Biblical Foundation of Project Ploughshares
From these beliefs flow the core understandings that form the spiritual framework of our organization and guide its work.

1. The Scriptures witness to the creation of the world by God who intends that creation reflect the fundamental harmony we have come to call shalom. We derive our understanding of security from a vision of peace informed by the biblical idea of shalom, which encompasses not simply the absence of war but a state of well-being and harmony among people and with nature.

2. God calls us to be peacemakers, to heal a world in brokenness, and in the deep solidarity of the spirit, to work for a world in which justice will flourish and peace abound (Psalms 72:7).

3. God's intention breaks into our world in Jesus of Nazareth, who is central to our understanding of peace through reconciliation, forgiveness, and freedom from oppression, fear, and conflict. The ancient prophets heralded Christ's entry in human history as the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus outlined the essential elements required for building the kingdom of justice and peace on earth (Matthew 5:1-12). Followers of Jesus are called to love their neighbours and to seek justice for the poor, the disinherited, and the oppressed (Matthew 25:31-46).

4. God calls us to reconcile neighbours with each other, and to be instruments in achieving peace and justice in our world. "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8). The peace of God transforms our attitude towards life and thus we seek to witness to the peace and justice we have with God.

5. In partnership with God and creation and through the power of the Holy Spirit the church is called to act out God's peacemaking in worship, reflection, education, and action. Shalom is a vision of action, and it demands our commitment to faithful response. When the writer of 1 Peter called on the early church to "seek peace and pursue it" (1 Peter 3:11), he was emphasizing there is a requirement for the pursuit of peace.

6. A holistic approach to security for people and nature asserts the indivisibility of development, environment, human rights, democracy, and peace, and accords with the Christian understanding that "peace, justice, and the integrity of creation" are all essential elements of a sustainable society.

7. The foundation and inspiration of our work in peacebuilding is the reconciling and renewing life, death, and resurrection of Christ and Christ's moral teaching. The witness of Christ demonstrates that all people draw life from a single source and are members of one global community. Christ's teaching demands that evil in human society be overcome with good and that justice and peace be built by means of love and nonviolent action. What God calls us to is costly unity-a koinonia-with humanity in which the interests of our neighbours become our interests.

8. "God shall judge between the nations, and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more." (Isaiah 2:4)

Church Statements on Peace

World Council of Churches