Sarah Thompson
Sarah Thompson is the Executive Director of Christian Peacemaker Teams. She is from Elkhart, Indiana (traditionally Potowatomi land) and got her start in peacemaking work as a child, accompanying her parents while they did community organizing, visiting elders, and advocating for the inclusion of marginalized people in Mennonite contexts in the United States.
Building on the gutsy legacy of the Civil Rights Movement, she was central to the Spelman College students’ feminist antiwar efforts from 2002–2006. There she studied Comparative Women’s Studies and International Studies, with a minor in Spanish. Putting all of this learning to use as a scholar-activist and athlete, she has traveled to over 45 different countries for solidarity work, theological exchange, and peace and social justice capacities. She is currently thrilled to dedicate her passion for righteousness through CPT, as it is an organization that does strategic nonviolent intervention in areas of lethal conflict and also addresses structural violence (racism, sexism, and heterosexism).
CPT’s work fits into the GMP conference because we participate in third party nonviolent intervention, where we are invited. An invitation (from organized grassroots leaders and community organizations) is key because it means that the dichotomy of “who is being helped and who is helping” is broken down. This is the new era of peacebuilding, where we see that our liberation is linked; none of us are free until all of us are free. Structures of oppression have deformed the lifestyle and identities of all people and the Earth — we need to find a way to re-member who we are. Mennonites have a significant influence on CPT — from its beginnings in 1986 until now, the stubborn commitment to right relationship (from the local to global level) influences CPT’s policies, practices, and perspective.
Sarah’s hope for this event is that it goes beyond being self-congratulatory of the work Mennonites have done around the world and nurtures ways that we can be a part of the larger global movement for a life-sustaining society.
