{"id":22638,"date":"2014-12-22T09:45:02","date_gmt":"2014-12-22T14:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=22638"},"modified":"2015-01-12T16:13:53","modified_gmt":"2015-01-12T21:13:53","slug":"sunday-school-materials-connect-veterans-peace-churches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/sunday-school-materials-connect-veterans-peace-churches\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday school materials connect veterans, peace churches"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"color: #232323\">Developers of a new Sunday school curriculum say it goes down a seldom-walked path \u2014 where pacifists accompany veterans toward peace.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #232323\">Released on Veterans\u2019 Day, Nov. 11, the free six-week course focuses on biblical reflections and insights about trauma with significant input from a third source.\u201cReturning Veterans, Returning Hope: Seeking Peace Together\u201d was created by <a href=\"http:\/\/mcc.org\/\">Mennonite Central Committee<\/a> and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pjsn.org\/Pages\/default.aspx\">Peace and Justice Support Network of Mennonite Church USA<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mennonitemission.net\/Pages\/Home.aspx\">Mennonite Mission Network<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #232323\">Evan Knappenberger, an Iraq War veteran studying at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., spent the summer researching and writing as part of a nontraditional <a href=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/09\/four-students-explore-various-forms-of-ministry-in-summer-program\/\">Ministry Inquiry Program placement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #232323\">\u201cI did a lot of coordinating with veterans in the Mennonite world,\u201d he said. \u201cIn almost every little Mennonite community there is one or two, if not more. There are a lot more in the Brethren in Christ church in Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #232323\">The idea for the curriculum was hatched when Knappenberger crossed paths with MCC U.S. peace education coordinator Titus Peachey and PJSN coordinating minister Jason Boone at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/cjp\/star\/\">EMU\u2019s Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR)\u2008program<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #232323\">The group sees the materials as a relatively new field \u2014 addressing how Christian pacifists can embrace returning warriors. For this, Knappenberger looked on his own experience.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #232323\">As an intelligence analyst for the Army, he developed doubts about the military\u2019s role and actions after joining out of high school three days after the war started in 2003. When the Army tried to \u201cstop-loss\u201d him for two years of active duty beyond his required time, he managed to secure a general discharge \u2014 later upgraded to honorable.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #232323\">\u201cI didn\u2019t consider myself as a peace person until I was out for a couple months,\u201d said the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.veteransforpeace.org\/who-we-are\/member-highlights\/2012\/05\/08\/veterans-for-peace-forming-in-charlottesville,-va\">Virginia chapter president of Veterans for Peace<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #232323\"><strong style=\"color: #1c1c1c\">New kind of analyst<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #232323\">Since his discharge, Knappenberger enrolled at EMU, where he is finishing his bachelor\u2019s degree and planning to enroll at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/seminary\/\">Eastern Mennonite Seminary<\/a> next year. He has attended <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shalomcongregation.va.us.mennonite.net\/\">Shalom Mennonite Church<\/a> in Harrisonburg for more than two years and has enjoyed getting to know the broader Mennonite church.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #232323\">His experience in two worlds most people consider quite different brings a fresh perspective.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #232323\">\u201cThere are a lot of potentially good things that veterans can offer churches,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are good qualities of soldiers and veterans. Gandhi was a veteran; Tolstoy was a veteran. The people who teach us nonviolence, many of them wore a uniform.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #232323\">He said both veterans and Mennonites have stories of trauma.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #232323\">\u201cAny time you can connect the experience of trauma in a community that is focused on wholeness like the Anabaptists are, that\u2019s helpful for both sides,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #232323\">\u201c . . . Veterans are very mission-oriented people. That\u2019s part of our indoctrination \u2014 mission first \u2014 and that\u2019s also a value of at least some parts of the Mennonite world. There\u2019s also a big focus in the military on community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #232323\">Making community isn\u2019t always easy. Knappenberger acknowledged fundamental differences could lead to misunderstandings and misconceptions, but that\u2019s not a reason to avoid each other.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #232323\">\u201cI think the thing to remember is that it is going to be messy,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think if it\u2019s done in the spirit of love, the messiness won\u2019t override the intention, which is good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #232323\">The curriculum is available at no cost online at\u00a0<a style=\"color: #494098\" href=\"http:\/\/pjsn.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">pjsn.org<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<a style=\"color: #494098\" href=\"http:\/\/mcc.org\/media\/resources\/1719\" target=\"_blank\">mcc.org\/media\/resources\/1719<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Courtesy of\u00a0Mennonite World Review, Dec. 15, 2014<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Developers of a new Sunday school curriculum say it goes down a seldom-walked path \u2014 where pacifists accompany veterans toward peace. Released on Veterans\u2019 Day, Nov. 11, the free six-week <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/sunday-school-materials-connect-veterans-peace-churches\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about Sunday school materials connect veterans, peace churches<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":22640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5583,265,5623,12537,4513],"tags":[14638,6100,7280,7287,9379,7597,6347],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-22638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","category-seminary","category-special-programs","category-star","category-student-life","tag-evan-knappenberger","tag-mennonite-central-committee","tag-mennonite-church-usa","tag-mennonite-mission-network","tag-ministry-inquiry-program","tag-shalom-mennonite-church","tag-veterans"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sunday school materials connect veterans, peace churches - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/sunday-school-materials-connect-veterans-peace-churches\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sunday school materials connect veterans, peace churches - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Developers of a new Sunday school curriculum say it goes down a seldom-walked path \u2014 where pacifists accompany veterans toward peace. 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