[Peace-discuss] RE: The Christmas He Dreamed for All of Us

[Chas. 'Mark' Bee]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Karen Medina" <kmedina at uiuc.edu>
To: "Peace-discuss" <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2005 7:31 PM
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] RE: The Christmas He Dreamed for All of Us


> >From: "Paul M. King" <pmking at uiuc.edu>
>>Question: What would it mean for AWARE to have substantive
>>dialogue with the mainstream Christian community? What do we
>>want from them? What can we give them? What is the best way
> to develop genuine relationships with them for the purpose of
>>building future coalitions?
>
> Having a dialogue with the mainstream Christian community is
> a tough question. If anyone has suggestions, please offer
> them.
>
> It has been suggested that we contact a minister or the
> leaders of the church. Contacting these people when they are
> not interested in what you have to say is the first obstacle.
> The second obstacle is that the ministers are not the
> congregation, nor are they necessarily the gate to the
> congregation. So even if we succeed in having a conversation
> with a minister, there is still no contact with members of
> the church who might be interested in discussing the
> situation in Iraq.
>
> Suggestions?

   Have a sympathetic church member, hopefully someone of reliable demeanor, 
ask for one-time meeting space in the Church and (a) corresponding, 
thoughtfully-worded announcement(s) in the worship programs' church news 
pages.  You need an 'insider' for this, possibly (?), but you probably won't 
have to deal with much in the way of craziness in the meeting either. =)

   Probably be good to have a committed Christian or two there, and remember 
that bad drives out good when designing the meeting.  Just my 2c.

p.s.  Such insider church members might be found by going and engaging in 
mature, unforced conversations in the adult sunday school, or when they come 
up to sign bearers or some such, if you don't already have one in mind.  You 
could also send someone to talk on a tangential topic like comparative 
religion or some such first, if it's worth the trouble.  Anyway, I'm just 
making stuff up now.  =)