2023 YEAR IN REVIEW & FUTURE PLANS
We have had an exceptional year, but we will have an even bigger 2024. In 2023, we saw incredible progress as we sought to build resilient, compassionate, and flourishing communities — communities that are more interconnected and resilient to hate, violence, and polarization.
Among the highlights from 2023, we saw incredible retreats in Pakistan and Sudan. In Pakistan, for instance, we saw pastors share about their churches being attacked and saw a leading imam stand up and offer property that he owned next to his home for the Christians to build a new church so that his influence could protect them.
In Sudan, we saw, for the first time, female religious leaders added to our retreats. These were not clerics but were leading influential female leaders from the Muslim and Christian congregations. Imam Magid noted that the most active and engaged participants in the retreat were these female leaders. They were amazing!
We also completed our STAR Project (Strengthening Texas, Advancing Resilience) to counter the increase in division and polarization in Tarrant County, Texas. As part of this project, we produced The Peacemaker’s Toolkit, a research-based reference tool for church leaders designed to help ministry practitioners navigate the problematic landscape created by division and polarization in our society.
We are looking forward to 2024! We have new work beginning in some of the most significant cities in the USA: cities like New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, and Kansas City, and an exciting new partnership in Las Vegas. Beyond that, we have commitments to work with clerics in West Africa, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.
Our organization has seen exponential expansion, and it is imperative that we now grow our operating budget and cash on hand to respond rapidly to urgent situations. The unusual nature of our work calls us to address situations in challenging places. Peacemaking necessitates stepping into dangerous situations, but it also demands that we be ready to respond immediately. Because of our relationships, our demand is high. We are receiving more invitations than we can respond to. We are often asked to fulfill these requests urgently, and, as a result, we do not have sufficient time to get a grant. We must build resources to respond as these crises are happening. We have a unique opportunity, but we must have additional resources to facilitate our engagement.
Beyond that, we must open a new office in Washington, D.C. As we work with major cities across the US and with various countries around the world, no city is as important to our work and as strategic as Washington, D.C. We must finalize our plans to open a headquarters office in DC and staff it with our DC-area team. Your investment can help make that happen.
Click to Donate