The World Church Peace and Justice Team originally was established by World Conference action in 1982 and was more clearly defined in 2000 to explore issues of peace and justice. As a team that represents lay members and ministers in addressing peace and justice questions of the world church body, the team is uniquely able to pursue issues that cross jurisdictional boundaries and that are of importance to the worldwide church.
Mission Alignment
Pursue Peace on Earth is the primary focus for the team with an additional focus on justice issues that are essential for pursuing peace.
Team Priorities 2019-2023
- Continue to advise the First Presidency and the church regarding WCR 1311 Palestine and Israel (Adopted June 10, 2016)
- Continue to respond to WCR 1303 Action Toward Nuclear Weapons Abolition (Adopted April 16, 2013) as identified in the penultimate resolved.
- Coordinate the responses from all church Teams to the tasks set out in WCR 1319 (Adopted April 12, 2019) and review and integrate the information gathered in order to provide a consolidated summary to the First Presidency of the work.
- Collaborate with ministers the world over who wish to focus on justice and peace initiatives, including supporting and coordinating events and colloquia.
- Identify and support, if required, a network of peace and justice teams and ministries around the church, facilitating communication and offering support.
- Make recommendations to the First Presidency regarding future World Church peace award recipients and consider the possibility of a future Peace Colloquy at the Temple.
- Give prayerful consideration to what other peace and justice topics should be considered by a worldwide church such as the ethics of peace, the challenges to peace posed by artificial intelligence, and threats to peace posed by climate change, loss of biodiversity, political instability, poor education, disempowerment of women and girls, poverty and poor health, and bring any such resolutions to World Conference 2022.
- Review other World Church Resolutions on peace generally to ensure their currency and the church’s faithful adherence to them including, but not limited to, 1177 (Peace, 1982), 1178 (Nuclear Arms Reduction, 1982), 1267 (World Church Peace and Justice Committee, 2000), and 1317 (Domestic and Family Violence).
Team Members
Rick Sarre, team leader
Andrew Bolton, Secretary
David Anderson
Sariah Boeve-Middleton
Melissa Gribbon
Andy Horner
Robin Judd
Steven Kellogg
Andrea Read-Davis
Kelsey Paul Shantz
Joelle Wight
Bryan Wright