GW 12: Discerning the Times: Global Awareness + Actions for Peace

The most famous verse in the Bible brings cosmic good news. John 3:16 leaps in a single sentence from God’s all-embracing love for the world, to the gift of faith here and now, and then to life together with God forever. From the first people who followed Jesus to believers in every land today, this understanding of God and of Creation invites us to live in faith, hope and love.

However, the era we live in is testing our humanity in new ways. More and more of our everyday choices affect other people, just as behaviors and habits of others affect us in return. Lifestyles and consumption in one place may impact lives, livelihoods and the environment on the other side of the world.

What are the signs of such times? Hotter climates. Severe storms. Longer droughts. Deforestation. Species dying out. Rivers and oceans polluted with plastics. Widening gaps between rich and poor. Pandemic diseases. Add to these, ever more deadly arsenals and arms equipped with artificial intelligence.

Shall we despair or shall we engage with God’s world as it is today? This course is an invitation to explore how a global outlook can be an integral part of living in faith. Sessions will focus on places and issues shaping our world. The hope is to shed light on serving God who so loves the world and who invites us to work together for good.

This course will be taught by Jonathan Frerichs

8 Sessions: Mondays, 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM (PST) / 20:30-22:00 Paris time.
March 28
April 4, 11, 25
May 2,9,16,23

We are offering this module as a weekly training via Zoom. If you are unable to attend the live sessions, we are offering a special course which will be uploaded for you to go through at your own pace and on your own schedule at a discounted price of $125

Entry Fee:
$150 USD* -LIVE TEACHING WEBINAR ($20.00 of which funds trainings in Africa and the Global South)

$125 USD* -SELF PACE WEBINAR

*Partial and full scholarships are available in the drop down menu below

Session Themes:

1. Becoming Global Christians. Introduce participants; discuss the term “global Christians”; preview the course including a faith-based approach to building peace.

2. Israel/Palestine: Guiding our feet in the way of peace. The land where Jesus lived is a crucible of conflict which involves or implicates Christians locally and around the world. Which Christian teachings relate most clearly to the conflict? What are the criteria for building a peace worthy of the name in this unique context?

3. Northeast Asia’s Wounded Tigers. Korea, Japan and China. Japan, South Korea and China are economic ‘tigers’ today. Yet their peoples have been scarred by a century of war and conflict. Their region is still much in need of healing and of peace. What are obstacles on their path toward a common, more peaceful future?

4. Nuclear weapons and humanity’s fate? We are made in God’s image. Humankind is called the crown of creation. Yet the 20th century invention of nuclear weapons poses an unprecedented threat to our existence and to God’s creation. Is the Doomsday of nuclear holocaust a Judgement Day of our own making? What progress is being made in the lifetime since Hiroshima?

5. Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Yemen: Wars no one wins, conflicts all parties lose. What are common threads behind endemic disorder and violence in and around the Middle East? How do distant powers, including the US, figure in these long-running crises?

6. Out-sourcing the Sixth Commandment: From armed drones to killer robots. Modern weaponry enables life-and-death decisions to be taken more and more remotely. The near future may well see robotic weapons which select and strike targets on their own. Choosing who and when to kill would be done by an algorithm. Major military powers (including the US) claim such weapons could be used lawfully. However, many governments, citizens, scientists, faith leaders and others strongly disagree and are working for a pre-emptive ban on these ‘killer robots’. What would such weapons mean for our world? Are there ways to stop them?

7. Peace with the Planet: Faith-action in our corner of God’s creation. Human activity is adding more and more carbon to Earth’s atmosphere. Earth’s climate is becoming hotter as a result. Rising sea-levels and severe storms, floods, droughts and heat-waves pose increasingly grave threats to 21 many regions of our planet. What are the root causes of this global dilemma? How does Christian faith equip and guide us in meeting such a challenge?

8. America amid global challenges? Where does USA stand in terms of global awareness and action for peace and justice on topics noted above? In which ways is it part of the solution and in which ways part of the problem? How does Christian faith and discipleship figure in the US role?

Jonathan Frerichs is Pax Christi International’s representative for disarmament at the United Nations in Geneva. He has served as a program executive and consultant for the World Council of Churches’ Commission of the Churches on International Affairs. He has worked as a reporter, writer, producer, teacher, trainer and 4 executive for international, religious and civil society organizations—including Lutheran World Relief, Middle East Council of Churches, World Health Organization, Lutheran World Federation and Kristen Redio of Papua New Guinea. His professional experience is mostly in faith-based endeavours related to peace, human security, disarmament, development and the environment.