Presbyterian Peace Fellowship
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The Presbyterian Peace Fellowship is a peacemaking organization affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Its offices are in Nyack, NY.
Started in the early 1940’s, PPF provided support for Presbyterians who were conscientious objectors during the Second World War. In the 50's PPF worked to oppose the development of nuclear weapons. During the 60’s and the 70’s, members were doing draft resistance counseling and working to end the war in Vietnam. In the 1980s PPF was one of the founding organizations of the US-Soviet Bi-Lateral Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign(citation needed), leading the PC(USA) to become the first major church to endorse the proposal. In the 1990's PPF's work included the Jubilee 2000 Third World Debt Relief. Throughout the last several decades, PPF members have worked toward dealing with gun violence and landmines.
In 1980, members of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship were instrumental in encouraging the Presbyterian General Assembly to pass the document called “Peacemaking: The Believers’ Calling", which initiated the annual Peacemaking Offering in many Presbyterian churches, and established the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program of the denomination. More than twenty-five years later, PPF continues to work closely with the PPP. Often the role of the PPF is to push the denomination to new and bolder policies and actions on behalf of peace, while the PPP works within the policies of the denomination.
Since the late 1990’s, the direction of the PPF has shifted to an emphasis on nonviolent direct action.
In 2006 the PPF appointed Rick Ufford-Chase, former Moderator of the PC(USA), as its first full time Executive Director.
