"Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, wants His followers to be peacemakers in society and hence calls them blessed."
A Seventh-day Adventist Call For Peace
General Conference Spring Council (2002)
The Adventist Peacemaker Pledge is a way of publicly testifying to your intention to follow the nonviolent, peacemaking way of Jesus.
The founders of the Seventh-day Adventist movement did so, as part of their bold witness to "present truth." When they formed their first conference in 1861, they bound themselves to God and each other with a simple pledge: “We the undersigned, hereby associate ourselves together as a church, taking the name, Seventh-day Adventists, covenanting together to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ” (Review & Herald, Oct. 8, 1861).
So, the first part of the Peacemaker Pledge invites you to re-affirm, or acknowledge for the first time, this basic Seventh-day Adventist commitment.
The early Adventists organized of the Church amidst the bloody American Civil War. Faced with issues of warfare and violence right from the beginning, they agreed, at the third General Conference session (1865), that their covenant meant that they could not take the lives of fellow human beings, even for the best of causes. Thus, they declared, “we are compelled to decline all participation in acts of war and bloodshed as being inconsistent with the duties enjoined upon us by our divine Master toward our enemies and toward all mankind.”
The second part of the Peacemaker Pledge gives you an opportunity to signify your desire to join them in making a similar commitment.
The final part of the Pledge entails dedication to the broader mission of peacemaking: all actions contributing to peace, harmony, forgiveness, reconciliation, wholeness and well-being -- the things that Jesus' ministry was all about (Luke 4:14-21).
Sign the Pledge
Joining fellow believers worldwide in covenanting to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ, I hereby pledge:
