Peaceful at Heart was released in 2019 to present a vision of peaceful living as an alternative to the expectations for masculinity widely held by society. The goal has been to engage as many men as possible in this important conversation. To that end, Mennonite Men, in collaboration with Mennonite Central Committee's Ontario office, has created an audiobook, study guide, and a podcast/video interview series with the book's contributors. These written, audio and video materials will assist in individual or group engagement of these critical ideas.
The interview series includes the personalities and passions of each of the contributors as they are interviewed about their chapters. Cedric Martin of Ontario-based Theatre of the Beat hosts the interviews and performs the audiobook. Retired professor Dan Epp-Tiessen walks leaders through a series of 11 sessions in the written study guide, providing suggestions for facilitating group conversations including questions to get men thinking and sharing. From the hard stuff of abuse to a vision for living life with a peaceful heart, covering a broad reach of masculinities, Peaceful at Heart challenges our thinking of what it means to be men of God.
Financial support from Mennonite Church Eastern Canada, Be In Christ Canada, and Mennonite Church Canada as partners with Mennonite Men and MCC Ontario has allowed these materials, to be made available free of charge, with the exception of the commercially published book edition. We encourage you to download, distribute, and view which ever of the materials meets your interests and needs.
Don Neufeld and Steve Thomas, the editors of Peaceful at Heart, are readily available to support your individual or community conversations, and can be contacted at DonN@MennoniteMen.org and SteveT@MennoniteMen.org.
Peaceful at Heart and its accompanying resources, along with the forthcoming book Strong, Loving and Wise: Joining Conversations for Men, are resources of Mennonite Men's JoinMen program, which provides retreats and resources from an Anabaptist perspective to promote healthy masculinity, Christian formation and community. Mennonite Men desires that all men find a place of belonging among men who are strong, loving and wise as we follow Jesus in building God's shalom. More info at mennonitemen.org/joinmen.
You will find all these great resources at:
mennomen.live/PeacefulAtHeart
commonword.ca/ResourceView/83/25300
