Main YWAM Page, or to YWAM Communications, or to Main News Digest PageSMOKE FROM A night of sectarian violence was still drifting when a small, interdenominational group of Christians took to the streets to demonstrate their unity and pray for peace, last month.
While media attention focused on the riots and clashes sparked by the stand-off at Drumcree, where members of the Protestant Orange Order gathered for their annual parade through the local Catholic neighborhood, a 450-mile "pilgrimage for peace" began quietly on July 12.
The 20-strong group, from eight countries, set out from Belfast City Hall to walk the boundary of Northern Ireland praying for an end to the years of violence, and demonstrating their commitment to unity despite coming from different church and cultural backgrounds.
Walking united and without fanfare in a country where high-profile marches have traditionally underscored and strengthened religious divides, they have been met with tears and applause along their trek, which is due to end on August 28 after circling the six counties.
The Reconciliation Walk-Northern Ireland began hours after the deaths of three young Catholic brothers whose house was firebombed during the violence and demonstrations that followed the refusal to permit the traditional Orange March at Drumcree.
"We passed BY THE SMOLDERING REMAINS OF VEHICLES THAT HAD BEEN BURNT DURING THE NIGHT, after being hijacked," said coordinator Mike Oman, who first began planning the prayer walk two years ago. "We believe that the timing of this event has been very significant; we had no idea when we started thinking about it that we would find ourselves walking with things the way they are now."
Walkers have taken part in prayer meetings at most of their stops along the way, where they have been hosted by members of both Protestant and Catholic communities. "We have been incredibly well received," said Oman. "Everywhere we have gone PEOPLE HAVE BEEN LEFT IN TEARS BECAUSE OF THE MESSAGE OF HOPE FOR RECONCILIATION, UNITY AND PEACE THAT WE BRING. The event seems to be speaking right into the heart of where people are."
Around 70 people will have taken part in the walk by the time it ends, several of them completing the whole journey. The others will have participated for one to two weeks, after a week's preparatory training that includes learning about church history and traditions, and prayer. Local people have joined the walk, too, as it has passed through their area.
The number of walkers is far less than organizers had first anticipated - up to 600 - with more, too, coming from overseas. "We are not disappointed, though," said Oman, Youth With A Mission director for Northern Ireland. "There is a sense in which PERHAPS AN EVENT LIKE THIS needs people from outside, who have not been living under the oppression OF THE PAST YEARS."
The project has been endorsed by the heads of the Catholic, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist Churches in Ireland. One of the last days of the walk will feature a stop for prayer outside Stormont Castle, where the new Northern Ireland Assembly will soon meet for the first time.
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