International Ministries

Baptist-Trained Peacemakers Help Bring Stability to Warring Kenyan Tribes

August 10, 2016 News by Roger Amerman
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It is not unusual for global servants from American Baptist International Ministries (IM) to make life-changing impacts on the people they serve.

In the arid region of Turkana in northern Kenya, the impact of the peacemaking training conducted by IM Global Consultant the Rev. Dr. Dan Buttry took effect almost immediately. It helped defuse a long-lasting bloody conflict between two warring tribes—with surprising, God-honoring consequences.

The Turkana and Pokot tribes of parched northwestern Turkana have long been embroiled in violent conflict. Cattle rustling is the primary cause, precipitated by scarce water and grazing resources, says Dan, who has been an IM global consultant for peace and justice since 2003.

“A lot of it is also related to a marriage practice in these tribes,” Dan explains. “Young men, when they want to get married, have to give 20 or 30 head of cattle to the bride's father, and usually they only have two or three head. So they would steal cattle, heavily armed with AK-47s. Even the Kenyan army and police wouldn’t go into the area because it was so dangerous.”

Responding to the Call Impact Area:
Proclaiming God's Reign of Justice, Peace and Abundant Life

One of the major goals of International Ministries Responding to the Call (RTC) is “to provide ongoing conflict transformation training for international church leaders and expand its support of the peacemaking efforts of international partners.”

A key tool to meet this goal is the 10-day, Bible-based workshop Training in Conflict Transformation Trainers (TCTT), an adaptable program developed and led by the Rev. Dr. Dan Buttry.

TCTT training was launched globally in 2012 in Thailand. Since then, workshops have been held in Kenya, Nigeria, the Philippines, the Ukraine and Detroit, Michigan, drawing participants from all over the world. Upcoming workshops are being planned for Egypt and Guatemala.

“I try to no longer do things by myself, so I have a TCTT graduate with me so that person can learn and grow in cross-cultural training work,” Dan says.

When not traveling around the world, Dan lives in Hamtramck, Michigan. He is the author of several books, including We Are the Socks. His wife, the Rev. Sharon Buttry, is an American Baptist Churches pastor and quarter-time IM global consultant. Sharon has been actively involved in urban ministry for 20 years and is the founding and current chair of the Hamtramck Community Initiative, a public safety organization.

Dan’s efforts are aligned with IM’s RTC peace and justice objectives to:

  • Provide ongoing conflict transformation training for international church leaders and expand IM’s support of the peacemaking efforts of international partners.
  • Respond to interreligious conflict by attending to survivors of religious persecution and by working to transform such conflicts.
  • Provide training to churches, communities and organizations around the world in respectful interreligious dialogue in order to promote mutual understanding and cooperation.
  • Expand work with women, men and children who are affected by domestic violence through ministries of prevention, shelter and restoration.

Dan, who is based in the U.S., spent time in Kenya in 2013 to scout for a venue to conduct a workshop called Training in Conflict Transformation Trainers (TCTT), a 10-day Bible-based learning opportunity focused on conflict transformation. The workshop is a key part of IM’s Responding to the Call (RTC) objective to “embody God's love in situations of discord, suffering and conflict.”

While in Kenya, Dan met Boaz Keibarak, a 22-year-old unpaid, state-appointed peace commissioner with a heart for peacemaking. Impressed with Boaz’s “sweet, gentle spirit,” Dan invited the young man—a member of the warring Turkana tribe—to participate in the TCTT in 2014.

Just one month after Boaz’s TCTT training, his learning was put to the test when the simmering Pokot/Turkana conflict exploded into violence and about 130 people were killed.

Dan's young student intervenes in the conflict, with impressive results

“Boaz went to where the fighting was going on, back and forth between the sides, and he got them to agree to a ceasefire,” Dan recalls. “And then he set up weekly consultations of the tribal elders to deal with the problems and keep small issues from exploding into cycles of violence.”

Later, Boaz developed a more comprehensive peacemaking plan with fellow TCTT graduate Phillip Stargate from Uganda, helped in part by IM’s Global Peacemakers Mentoring Project.

More recently, Boaz conducted his own TCTT-related trauma healing workshop in Turkana, addressing another RTC priority. The goal is to help people deal with trauma so it doesn’t feed a new cycle of violence, but rather moves toward reconciliation.

Church growth: the fruit of peace

In addition to helping bring stability to these warring Kenyan tribes, the peace-making efforts of Boaz and others have helped the churches in Turkwell to grow by planting multi-tribal congregations committed to reconciliation.

“The TCTT workshop has helped inspire and transform many lives between Pokot and Turkana tribes, and some have joined the Baptist family,” Boaz said recently. “Now new churches have been planted through the gathering of ‘peace warriors.’”

The impact of the churches is remarkable. Boaz reports that 174 people have been baptized since 2014 and that the church has been taking care of the spiritual growth of the reformed warriors. “My vision is to make stable peacemakers built on the foundation of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Prince of Peace,” he says.