Guatemala to host first Latin American Peace Messengers training

A former participant shares lessons learned as LWF gears up for first bilingual Peace Messengers training in Guatemala

(LWI) - “I learned that peace is not only the absence of violence, but also the presence of justice, dignity and wellbeing,” says Chundré Filippus, a theology student at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. She was one of the young Lutherans who took part in a Peace Messengers training organized by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in May 2024.

Over the past year, she has been using the skills and insights she gained to work on a peacebuilding project with teenagers in the Cape Flats, an area heavily affected by gang violence in her home city of Cape Town. She has also joined the LWF study group on Peace and Reconciliation in Conflicts and War, an experience, she says, “which has broadened my perspective and strengthened my commitment to peacebuilding in both global and local contexts.”

Filippus, who is actively involved in the Cape Lutheran Church, says she learned a lot from her training in Cambodia and encourages other young people to take advantage of the practical tools and experiences it offers. “The training was a powerful experience for me,” she recalls, “especially because it was held in Cambodia, where the effects of the 1975 genocide are still visible today. I was inspired to see how the country is actively rebuilding peace through the arts and through open dialogue.”

From 4 to 9 May, the 2025 Peace Messengers training will take place in the city of Antigua in southern Guatemala – the first time that this global event will be held in Latin America, or anywhere in the Americas. It will also be the first bilingual Peace Messengers event as the training will take place in both English and Spanish, hosted by the Augustinian Lutheran Church of Guatemala.

LWF Program Executive for Youth Savanna Sullivan, who will be among those leading the training, points out that peacebuilding has been an important focus of the LWF since its foundation in the aftermath of World War II. She notes that young people, in their message to LWF’s Thirteenth Assembly in Poland, “highlighted the vital importance of continuing to invest in and support youth leadership in peacebuilding.”

Sullivan says this opportunity for training “is vital because it aligns with our Lutheran theology and also, in a practical way, because young people are among the hardest hit by conflict in their communities, with the least formal power to change their circumstances.” She adds: “It is an opportunity for participants to reflect theologically, to build global solidarity around peacebuilding, to learn from each other and from the context in which the training is held.”

In the face of growing nationalism, as well as deepening political and economic divides across the world, Sullivan concludes, “our call as Christians to be peacemakers in our communities continues to be of vital importance. This training could not be more relevant at the current moment.”