A Mennonite group including (from left to right) Jon Rudy, Richard Rancap, Dan Pantoja, David Shenk and interviewer Melody Arandela visited Mindanao, Philippines.

And that’s what it got from April 24 to May 2, 2005, when five Mennonites traveled through conflict-ravaged areas of Mindanao in the southern Philippines for the purpose of learning from Christians and Muslims who are in dialogue with each other about ways to reduce the violence that has plagued this land.

Relying on faith in God and trust in the many partnerships cultivated by MCC during 28 years of presence in Mindanao, the delegation began its sojourn in Davao City, where I live and work.

Besides myself, the group traveling through the violence-prone area included Richard Rancap, president of the Integrated Mennonite Churches (IMC) of the Philippines; Luke Schrock-Hurst, an EMM worker in Manila; David Shenk, global missions consultant with EMM; and Dann Pantoja, a Filipino member of Peace Mennonite Church in Vancouver, British Columbia, who now serves in Mindanao.

As the 10-day journey across Mindanao’s primarily Muslim regions began, Shenk led a one-day seminar on “Christians Ministering in Islamic Communities” at a theological seminary in Davao. “Islam,” Shenk said, “needs to be engaged at a spiritual level. Christians are equipped for this conversation since our understanding of God is that he is dialogical.”

From what I’ve learned in my travels, peace in Mindanao will have to address the issue of how Muslims and Christians relate to each other since many from the outside see the conflict here very simplistically as a war between Islam and Christianity. By showing the world that Christians and Muslims can live in harmony, the myth that this is a religious conflict will be put to rest.

In Cotabato City the group visited an evangelical partner of MCC’s that works in predominantly Muslim communities. A leader in this effort told us that the project’s role is to bring “Jesus to the community” through acts of service, not to bring community members to church.

Several times as the group of Mennonites spoke with Muslim student groups they raised the difficult question of forgiveness as the students shared their stories of pain and loss at the murder of loved ones.

“Christianity is centered in forgiveness through Christ’s atonement,”

Schrock-Hurst told a student group. “Our own spiritual ancestors suffered, as you have, but through God’s grace we have been called to forgive our enemies.”

To me, it is these same tears of pain that challenge us Christians, and particularly Mennonites, to become more compassionate and welcoming of our Muslim brothers and sisters. We too are transformed by this conversation.

Pantoja, who felt called to begin work among Muslims after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, invited the Mennonite delegation into conversations with his Muslim housemates and the mayor of Sultan Kudarat, a small town in central Mindanao, where he serves.

“When I first came, I was ignorant of any peace-building and dialogical methodologies,” Pantoja mused. “But I jumped in and immersed myself.”

At first the predominantly Muslim community was very suspicious of Pantoja. They had suffered at the hands of soldiers who were predominantly “Christian.” But as he set about listening to people’s stories of trauma, offering relief to displaced people in the area and demonstrating Christ’s love in his behavior, barriers broke down.

Often it just takes one person to initiate dialogue, to reach across the gap that so easily divides people of different religions. Violence narrows the range of what people see as possibilities in any given situation. We were so encouraged to see people of faith offering innovative alternatives to revenge and retribution.

The group was inspired by the example of an evangelical church leader in Mindanao who organizes a “Bless Muslims Day” every Sept. 11. Under his leadership, the church is awakening to the call for holistic development.

The group also visited Father Sebastiano, a Catholic priest who has formed the Silsilah Dialogue Movement in Zamboanga City. They approach inter-faith dialogue from the context of deep spirituality and prayer. Through prayer and the “dialogue of life,” the movement seeks to mend broken relationships.

“These are models of ministries that help us Christians practically engage Muslims with respect and careful dialogue,” said Schrock-Hurst. “Dialogue in the context of prayer offers hope.”

The group also visited other Catholic priests and sisters, pastors, Muslim religious and political leaders, military personnel, college faculty and presidents, and volunteers.

“What we heard consistently from Muslims and Christians on this trip was the importance of Mennonite encouragement to them on the sometimes lonely road of peace building and dialogue,” Shenk said. “Muslims have respected Mennonites because they recognize that the church, when true to Christ, marches to a different tune than the government. On this trip we’ve again been moved to see that love in action overcomes fear.”

Jon Rudy is a regional peace resource person for MCC in Asia and is an EMM co-missionary.

BASILAN ISLAND, Philippines — “Communities were first suspicious of this project,” reports Dedette Suacito, director of Nagdilaab Foundation on Basilan Island. “They thought we were collecting war trash to report to the army which communities still have lots of guns.”

But, Suacito said, they won the trust of people by explaining that collecting the debris of years of fighting – spent rifle cartridges, machine gun shells and mortar casings – could be part of a healing ritual.

Suacito asked the communities, “Do you want to hang on to this stuff forever? If you are ready to give it up, it can be part of your healing.”

Basilan Island has seen fighting and death since the 1970s when former dictator of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos, declared martial law. The conflict has left much debris scattered through out communities. In hanging on to it, they are constantly reminded of past trauma and pain. In giving it up to the war trash project, they are offered a chance to let go of the hate so associated with the violence.

The war trash project currently turns 105 millimeter howitzer shell casings into works of art such as candle holders, steel flower arrangements, and pencil holders. In the future they hope to be able to melt brass bullet casings into traditional gongs and bells.

The name Basilan Island strikes fear in the hearts of many foreigners. This is where the Abu Sayyaf held hostages, killed villagers, and terrorized the whole island for nearly four years. This is where missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham and Debra Yapp were held hostage for more than a year before Martin Burnham and Yapp were killed.

The war trash project, funded through AusAid, is a partnership with the Ateneo de Zamboanga University Research Center. It is designed to provide healing for communities while providing some income from the refuse of war.

Through this program which trains youth in metallurgical skills, this poorest of the Philippine islands is being given a chance for economic advancement. Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) sponsored Saucito’s travel to the annual Summer Peacebuilding Institute in Harrisonburg, Va.

As a measure of the success of this project, Suacito says, “We have been asked to replicate this project in Jolo,” another island in the Sulu Archipelago where fighting and tensions are ongoing.

Photo: Flourantine Pamposa works to convert war trash into art.