Youth called to peace, justice, and care for creation

August 10 , 2006

Peace through justice is a focus of New Community Project. NCP works with partners in Sudan to support the production of mosquito nets by women’s groups, helps young women in Africa and Central America gain the education they need for a better life, and promotes Fair Trade coffee. That focus makes NCP a natural partner for Church World Service’s Education and Advocacy Program.

A second NCP focus is care for creation. Its neglect is becoming increasingly evident in climate change, species loss, and environmental degradation, issues that affect many CWS partners, and a key element of the organization’s Water for All campaign. NCP campaigns against oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, slows deforestation in Guatemala, and helps congregations in the US examine their energy usage and assess the environmental costs of tending their grounds.

NCP’s learning tours and solidarity worker program let participants see life from the perspective of indigenous peoples and other marginalized groups, people with whom CWS works in many parts of the world. An upcoming issue of the E&A newsletter Weave Anew will highlight CWS work with indigenous peoples.

NCP trains its foci on youth and young adults, groups that are also in the sights of the CWS E&A Program. Through the Young Adults Ecumenical Forum and other groups, the CWS E&A Program is enabling young adults in colleges and seminaries to grapple with the challenges of globalization and the links between water, climate change and energy use. Thomas Abraham of Church World Service asked NCP’s David Radcliff about the organization’s emphasis on youth and young adults.

Radcliff: I’ve always been engaged by youth. This summer I’ll be at a national youth conference which happens every four years. There will be 3000-4000 kids. Since 1990, I’ve been the closing speaker. I relate to people of that age and they like the stuff we work on. They don’t find it in the church that much. I want to show them that Christian organizations care about these issues and bring to them a piece of the church they don’t usually get to see. They have a lot to offer us in energy and affinity for these issues. It’s not a one-way street.

CWS: On your website, young people are invited to “join the band”, for which they get a wristband made by indigenous people in the Amazon, and get connected with others who want to live in greater harmony with the earth and its peoples. Is this a special appeal to young people who may be looking outside the church?

Radcliff: I did it with young people in mind, but adults sign up too. We know people are looking for community, and not finding it in the church. They are moving outside the mainstream. We try to provide that kind of community, experientially-based, something we are in together. It’s a very conscious decision on our part. I don’t try and pull people away from their denominations. In a Presbyterian setting, I talk about what the denomination’s environmental or justice work. I’m interested in calling people back to what’s best in us. Part of the inspiration came from St. Francis of Assisi and his Third Order. Some people couldn’t leave their congregations and live in a monastery so he created a special order for them. Many of these people refused to go to war for their monarchs.

CWS: That’s interesting, given NCP’s ties to the Church of the Brethren, a historic peace church. How close are those ties?

Radcliff: We’ve had support from the COB from when we began. But institutionally, we’re not aligned with the COB. We’re a separate non-profit organization. The Board is all COB, although we’ll be more diverse soon. NCP is active in half a dozen denominations, and in a number of colleges, clubs, and Amnesty International groups. We mainly work with congregations, speaking 25-30 times a year. But we’re reaching beyond our core constituency, even on our learning trips. When we went to Guatemala in May, 75 percent came from outside the COB. In January we had a Jewish young adult, and a “wanderer,” someone who hadn’t found a faith home. Maybe because we’re not a denomination, we can be edgy, asking about people’s vehicle choices, for instance. We don’t take the onus off people and their response to the call to discipleship.

CWS: Your learning tours seem to be modeled on traditional “mission trips” but they’re not, are they?

Radcliff: The basic focus of our trips is changing ourselves, not doing things at the expense of our neighbors, especially indigenous people and women. Indigenous people have lived in close connection with their ecosystems but are being run off their lands. We ask them to be our teachers. We work in solidarity with them, not for them. We also ask them: “What do you have to give us? What can we learn from you?” It’s a partnership. The biggest struggle is to keep money out of the equation. It’s necessary, but it’s not the whole value. We want our tours to turn our world upside down, as the upside down globe in our logo indicates. When I was in Honduras in 1986, I saw enough groups come down to build latrines. But then they sit in their bubbles and never ask why things are the way they are, or what the situation has to do with North Americans and our lifestyles. That’s another reason why I don’t like to bring people from one particular setting. It’s too easy for them to stay in a cluster. I want the cart to be upset from the very start of the trip.

CWS: Why is the environment front and center for NCP?

Radcliff: Because life is in the balance. I sometimes start a presentation by saying: “Since 1995 there has been 40 percent less living creatures.” It’s not because of big game hunting; it’s connected to our consumption patterns. I see that these are moral and ethical choices that affect our neighbors. There is also the issue of generational justice, how it affects people coming after us. God’s creation has a right to exist in its own terms. Because of all these factors, dealing with God’s creation is critical. We’re asleep at the wheel, including the church. Change is not coming from the top. People there are too invested in the way things are. But change is coming from people of faith and courage. And the mystery of God working.

Part of our niche is that we’re not in DC trying to represent people who send us money, but putting it back on them, challenging them with how they live, what they can do. We’re different from other environmental organizations that way.