Seek Peace, led by John and Kay Hodge, partners with churches and Christian missions in regions experiencing conflict to plan, deliver and reflect on the impact of their peacebuilding and reconciliation work. We first met John and Kay through their work with CFM in Nigeria. In 2021 John and Kay, in a huge step of faith, moved their young family from Nigeria and based themselves in the UK to launch a new ministry in partnership with CFM called Seek Peace and we provided support to this new venture.
|
John and Kay Hodge and family.
|
In 2022 they are also looking to grow their programme partners beyond the work of CFM. John will be spending time in Nigeria and Ghana with CFM and two other Christian mission organisations equipping and supporting them with their peacebuilding work. Their prayer is that Seek Peace grows to be part of equipping and supporting the local church and local missions in volatile regions to share the heart of the gospel and the theology of reconciliation – for this is what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross and emboldens us to do for others.
2021 Review
|
In partnership with CFM in 2021, Seek Peace were able to support one of CFM’s peacebuilding projects, the Computer Training Centres in Nigeria. Across six Computer Centres, CFM work with disenfranchised youth by creating a space for mediation, dialogue and relationship building between youth from Muslim backgrounds and youth from Christian backgrounds. They also bring together the elders of the communities to talk about the needs of their youth and to think about solutions for peace.
|
Seek Peace have also supported CFM in research, impact and evaluation, monitoring, theories of change frameworks and reporting. They have been working remotely to support local partners in this for the five centres they had already established. Seek Peace are now working to facilitate opening a sixth centre in north Jos - a region that has experienced a lot of ethnic violence in recent years and has enormous populations of internally displaced people from the interior northern regions. Seek Peace works in the day to day of these projects to support the wonderful leaders on the front line.
|
Jos Computer Centre
2022 Support
|
In addition to the Computer Centres, this year Seek Peace will be starting to work with CFM in their Avant Garde for peace. This is a project aimed at peace education and works across targeted regions in Jos with local schools and community groups to train people in practical peacebuilding skills. This last year the Avant Garde team have run numerous trainings like this, one was with a local vigilante group. Activities like this really shape local resilience and responses/reactions to violence and conflict and help de-escalate tensions at the local level. This also supports CFM's local community work and reputation as a Christian organisation who wants to build up the community rather than tear it down with its own agenda.
|
2022 will also see Seek Peace growing their programme partners. John will be spending time in Nigeria and Ghana with CFM and two other Christian mission organisations, equipping and supporting them with their peacebuilding work.
Your support of $2,500 will
|
Prayer Points
- Pray that Seek Peace grows to be part of equipping and supporting the local church and local missions in volatile regions to share the heart of the gospel and the theology of reconciliation
- Pray for support in the next phase of Seek Peace
- Pray for new regular supporters to release John and Kay more into the work of Seek Peace
Testimony
God always provides. John and I have always had this firm sense that God brought us together and we both have a strong bond to the heritage of faith that our families gave us and sowed into our lives.
Our story has just been one of wanting to pursue God and His call on our lives - but also being faced with our own fears in trying to trust Him. One day we decided that there was never a perfect time to jump in, and we packed our bags and headed for Nigeria to spend time learning from and volunteering with CFM. We have faced so many logistical challenges along the way and so many people have said that it's impossible, but God has always made a way when we have listened to Him.
He took me to the UK as a newly graduated HSC student. He led John away from the stable career path of law in London. He led us to Nigeria with nothing but our bags even though we had stable, good lives in Australia at that time. He made a way despite all the odds for us to travel from Nigeria to have our first child in the UK when we had basically no income. He got us safely back to Nigeria and then he provided us with a source of supporters and partners which launched us into pursuing Seek Peace. He laid a safe path for our daughter to be born in Nigeria during the peak of the pandemic city wide lockdowns and he protected us in the months after her birth. He brought us to the UK in the middle of covid and provided us with people who surrounded us with love and generosity.
God is so kind and faithful. He is always calling us to trust Him. It's so hard for us to let go of that control, but it's in that place that we walk in the divine.
Our story has just been one of wanting to pursue God and His call on our lives - but also being faced with our own fears in trying to trust Him. One day we decided that there was never a perfect time to jump in, and we packed our bags and headed for Nigeria to spend time learning from and volunteering with CFM. We have faced so many logistical challenges along the way and so many people have said that it's impossible, but God has always made a way when we have listened to Him.
He took me to the UK as a newly graduated HSC student. He led John away from the stable career path of law in London. He led us to Nigeria with nothing but our bags even though we had stable, good lives in Australia at that time. He made a way despite all the odds for us to travel from Nigeria to have our first child in the UK when we had basically no income. He got us safely back to Nigeria and then he provided us with a source of supporters and partners which launched us into pursuing Seek Peace. He laid a safe path for our daughter to be born in Nigeria during the peak of the pandemic city wide lockdowns and he protected us in the months after her birth. He brought us to the UK in the middle of covid and provided us with people who surrounded us with love and generosity.
God is so kind and faithful. He is always calling us to trust Him. It's so hard for us to let go of that control, but it's in that place that we walk in the divine.
