In August, faculty at a prominent university called. Like so many universities across the country, the violence unfolding in Gaza was fracturing their campus. 

• Ideological divides were widening. 
• Protest and counter-protest strategies were growing more dangerous. 
• Faculty felt the pressure to lead well but knew they lacked the skills to do so.

They asked: How do we foster a culture of peacemaking within an era of such upheaval?

We suggested a Jesus-looking strategy: Let’s build a community of student leaders across disciplines, ideologies, religions, and ethnicities. Let’s grow their competency for conflict and the currency of trust between them. Let’s mobilize them to train those within their spheres of influence to move toward conflict with the tools to heal rather than to win.

It’s the strategy we’ve deployed on four university campuses across the country in 2024, resulting in over 300 student leaders becoming pro-human peacemakers.

We just concluded our final session on their campus where two moments stood out to me. 

1. I observed the agnostic leader of the most progressive club on campus and a Christian leader of the most conservative club reach across differences into authentic, co-creating friendship. They put down the fables they had chosen to believe about one another, and committed to discovering the truth.
2. The second is when I heard a participant reflect on the impact of our time together with this: “I think I’m discovering life as it’s meant to be lived.”

The generosity of individuals like you makes this kind of impact possible. In 2025, we want the capacity to partner with more universities resulting in hundreds more student leaders trained in the way of peace.

Will you join us in reaching the next generation of leaders? Will you invest in peace?