Experts stepping up efforts to train faith communities in gun violence prevention
Presbyterian Peace Fellowship’s James Atwood Institute, set for Sept. 15-18, will feature the Rev. Dr. Jer Swigart and Dr. Marvia Jones
As the nation grieves another shooting at a house of worship and learning — most recently at a San Diego mosque — the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship invites faith leaders and congregations not to succumb to the narrative that all we can do in response is offer “thoughts and prayers.” Instead, you are invited to the James Atwood Institute for Congregational Courage, taking place September 15–18 at Heartland Retreat Center near Kansas City, Missouri.
Now in its third year, the Atwood Institute is a national gathering to equip faith communities to respond to gun violence with practical, pastoral, and prophetic action. Prior Institutes were held at Ghost Ranch Education & Retreat Center in Abiquiu, New Mexico, and at Massanetta Springs Camp and Conference Center in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Registration for the 2026 Atwood Institute is now open and scholarship information is available. Learn more here.
“This is the time for hope, not despair. There is so much that congregations can do to make our communities safer from gun violence,” said the Rev. Harry Eberts, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship’s new interim executive director and co-founder of New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence. “Being an expert is not necessary to take the first step. The Atwood Institute is for anyone with a heart ready to put their prayers into action.”
Named for the Presbyterian prophet of gun violence prevention, the late Rev. James Atwood, the 2026 Institute will feature keynote speaker Rev. Dr. Jer Swigart, Director of Global Immersion. Raised on a Wisconsin farm in an evangelical church, Swigart is a nationally recognized leader in conflict transformation and faith-based peacemaking. Swigart’s keynote address, “Blessed Are the Disrupters: Faithful Resistance to the Machinery of Violence,” will take place on Tuesday evening, September 15, and will be open to local congregations in the Kansas City area.
Swigart will provide the theological grounding for participants to understand the predictability of violence when systems, narratives, fears and economies normalize harm. He will help reframe the biblical peacemaker as someone willing to creatively disrupt the machinery of death before it crushes communities, particularly through gun violence. He is the author of “The Everyday Peacemaking Workbook” and coauthor of “Mending the Divides: Creative Love in a Conflicted World.”
Dr. Marvia Jones, director of the Kansas City Health Department, will pick up on the themes in Swigart’s keynote address and help participants see how gun violence can be prevented when government, community organizations, faith communities and concerned citizens rely on public health research and take steps together. Atwood Institute participants will learn how communities can interrupt violence and create systems, narratives, values and economies that normalize and promote community health and well-being.
Once this ground work has been set, participants will then engage in hands-on training, workshops, and collaborative learning designed to support real-world action in congregations and communities. The Institute centers both practical skill-building and spiritual grounding, helping participants move from concern to a sustained engagement to save lives.
The Atwood Institute is open to participants from all denominations and backgrounds, with a focus on equipping Christian congregations. Individuals and teams from congregations will:
- Receive hands-on training for initiatives like Guns to Gardens and secure gun storage projects
- Learn effective strategies for teaching, preaching and organizing on gun violence prevention within the congregation and beyond
- Engage in training around trauma and spiritual care at times of gun violence
- Network with others who are advocating for gun violence prevention across the country
As a participant in last year’s Atwood Institute, West Virginia Presbyterian Leslie Williams reflected: “I got such a sense that this is church. I took away with me language to use with my congregation and information to make me a more skilled leader. I took away a position in a movement and a sense of community — not just being at the forefront of gun violence prevention by myself, but being surrounded and led by so many others. I will carry this in my heart forever.”
Reserve your space for the Sept. 15-18 Atwood Institute for Congregational Courage. Space is limited and registration is now open.
Learn more and register here. Scholarship applications are here.
About the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship
Founded in 1944, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship is an independent national organization that works to encourage, equip and connect people of faith to engage in nonviolence, justice, and peacebuilding in their communities and throughout the world.
For questions about the 2026 Atwood Institute, contact [email protected].
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