There’s a crisis of witness in the American Church causing pastors like Dave Dealy of Westside Church to ask, “Are we generating disciples who can mend divides or heroes who need to win?”

Haunted by that question, Dave invited us to the table with his congregation of 1,500. He had read Mending the Divides where he discovered language for his ache: He wanted the Westside of the future to engage in the holy, costly work of repair but didn’t know where to begin.

Our work with congregations often begins this way. An encounter with our book, podcast, live talk, or virtual conversation awakens an individual to Everyday Peacemaking as the essence of our faith. Their awakening is the first step on the journey of becoming a Reconciling Congregation.

Around the table with Dave, we designed a strategy for transformation that was slow, deliberate, and immersive. Along the way, he discovered that the transformation he longed to see in his congregation needed to begin with him and a few others.

So, he selected ten leaders, and for six months we trained in the way of Everyday Peacemaking. It prepared us to immerse ourselves into the complexities of Israel and Palestine this October, just as the war began. The current violence altered the training environment, but it didn’t conclude our work.

Dave put it this way: “Because of Global Immersion’s guidance, the violence accelerated our transformation. Rather than abandoning the journey, we are more committed to taking the uncomfortable, unpredictable, necessary steps toward becoming an instrument of peace.”

When you invest in peace through Global Immersion, you enable us to do this slow, deliberate, exponential work. One resource resonated with one pastor who invited a team of ten leaders to transform. The impact? A congregation of 1,500 is becoming an instrument of peace.

Friends, we desperately need your financial support so we can companion more congregations like Westside in 2024. Will you join our funding community through a year-end or recurring gift?