What is Peacemaking?

Here, we're focusing on how we do peacemaking "as a people."

In April 2023, President Nelson issued a prophetic call for all of us to heal the world by becoming peacemakers, not only as individuals but “as a people.” Here, we want to explore what it means to be peacemakers as a people.

This concept offers theological depths — especially in a tradition that views salvation as collective, suggesting that peace is not simply an inner state of calm but a state of togetherness. Peacemaking is a type of gathering.

It also offers a set of very practical questions: how do we, as Latter-day Saints, gather together, stay together, mourn and rejoice together, and attend to each other through life? Many experts in civic and community life want to better understand the structure of Latter-day Saint community, and how much of it can translate elsewhere.

Which leaves us with a trickier question — how do we relate to those not of our faith? What is it like to live in the shadow of our gatherings? What, beyond missionary work, might “gathering Israel” mean, and how can that inform the work of peace?

These are some of the questions we want to explore on Peacemakers Needed. Think of it as a collective brainstorming project on how we create peace as a people and how we do so among people of other faiths, or no faith at all. We welcome your questions, your reflections, and we especially welcome the practical know-how of those who, in live time, are cultivating the art of gathering.