Colombia is home to one of the longest running internal armed conflicts. The war is fought between various armed actors and has displaced more than four million people, creating one of the worst humanitarian crises in the Western Hemisphere. Each year many Colombians are assassinated, kidnapped, threatened and displaced. A rural Colombian church member explains, "What you experience only in your nightmares is our daily reality."

Mennonite Central Committee partners in Colombia are reporting that in recent months, churches have come under increasing attack. The most recent report that we received was on October 29th of a community leader assassination. <http://washingtonmemo.org/2009/10/31/another-murder-in-cordoba-colombia/>

In the midst of this crisis, churches are taking courageous steps toward building peace. The most recent report by Justapaz, a Prophetic Call, Report 4, <http://washington.mcc.org/system/files/colombia_propheticcall4.pdf> states:

By being justice and peace [sic], church communities condemn violence and invite participation in genuine alternatives. Their sacred yes--spoken through truth-telling and loving practices--provides signposts to a nonviolent, just solution to social inequalities and armed conflict. Churches are saying yes to the truth of personal narratives of persecuted victims that is denied by the government. Yes to justice that strives to make all things new. Yes to dialogue between warring parties instead of speaking only through the exchange of bullets.(1)