It’s special when the ministry of peacemaking becomes so powerful in a place, it inspires art which inspires people forward. Think of songs from the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, or the civil rights movement in the US.  

In 2019 a song was added to the Mennonite Voices Together hymnal called “We Your People Sing your Praises.” The song was co-written by two women. Rebecca Mosley of the US was serving as MCC Co-Representative for Burundi & Rwanda. Josephine Munyeli of Rwanda was on the staff of World Vision. Josephine, a worker for peace and healing, is a survivor of the 1994 Rwanda genocide, when she was almost killed. 

Josephine and Rebecca became close companions while serving as worship leaders for the African Great Lakes Initiative (or GLI). Being their friend was a joy for me when I was part of beginning the GLI, which for 20 years has built a deep peacemaking community across the divides and conflicts of the region by creating profound space for both lament and hope.  

The song, written in English and French, became the GLI theme song and is sung every year at GLI’s annual gathering of about 100 people. Each year it is also sung by leaders at the Christian Forum for Reconciliation in Northeast Asia, and it has been translated into Japanese and Korean.  

What led to the song, says Rebecca, is that she and Josphine could not find any existing song that, in one musical composition, would help participants remember all the important themes that bound them together. “We were asking this,” says Rebecca. “What kind of Christian leaders do we need to be in order to keep walking through hardship and lament honestly and in community, allowing our character to be shaped by our suffering savior Jesus, fixing our eyes on the new creation that is coming?” Here is how the song answers that question and calls us forward. 

    We Your People Sing Your Praises
    We your people sing your praises
    As together we are sent
    To reveal your new creation
    In the shadows of lament.
    Give us courage for the journey,
    Shephard Jesus, be our guide,
    Let us lead with hope and passion
    ‘Til all things are reconciled.

In this time of great challenges in our world, may this song spread across God’s earth to shape leaders and communities who live such a way of change. 

See the song’s words and music here, and a video of the song being sung at the 2022 Mennonite World Assembly in Indonesia. 

Chris Rice is an award-winning writer, social entrepreneur, and global networker dedicated to fostering social healing and spiritual renewal. His books include Reconciling All Things: A Christian Vision for Justice, Peace, and Healing, and From Pandemic to Renewal: Practices for a World Shaken by Crisis.