NZ Freephone Peace Sunday falls on Hiroshima Day, the 78th anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bomb in Japan. CWS encourages churches to explore their responsibility for peacemaking in communities and the wider world.
Witness for Peace includes stories of peacemaking from its partners and the ecumenical family, focusing on the Pacific region. Peace Sunday Slide and as a PDF.
The Pacific Conference of Churches and its member, Ètārētia Porotetani Māòhi (Maohi Protestant Church) continue to campaign for compensation from the French government for all people adversely affected by 193 nuclear tests on Moruroa and Fangatoufa. PCC is campaigning to stop the Japanese government from releasing water from the Fukushima nuclear power station, damaged by the 2011 tsunami.
The World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches of Korea are asking for prayers for the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula on August 13, two days before National Liberation Day of Korea, marking the end of Japanese colonial rule in 1945. The 1953 Armistice Agreement signed on July 27 agreed on a ceasefire but not an end to the war. Rev. Joohong Kim and Rev. Richard Lawrence have contributed background material on the Korean peninsula and New Zealand’s involvement as well as prayers.
Peace Sunday is a time to remember people harmed by violence, war and nuclear fallout and pray for peace.
CWS is encouraging churches to accompany prayers with action. Churches might like to host a visiting speaker, organise a public meeting on a local concern like creating safer communities or fundraise to provide humanitarian support for refugees from conflict zones.
“There is so much talk about war, I believe as Christians we need to commit ourselves to being peacemakers,” says Murray Overton, National Director.
July 21, 2023
Image: Taken at the Demilitarised Zone on an ecumenical pilgrimage in August 2019. WCC/Grégoire de Fombell
