What Is A Person of Peace?

What is the person of peace?   It's a term that is increasingly used both in the church and in the mission field.  Practitioners of disciple making movements (DMM) often talk of searching for the person of peace and yet different groups use the term in different ways.  All are correct but for those just beginning to explore the idea of the Person of Peace, a clarification might be in order.  

Some define the Person of Peace (PoP) as anyone who welcomes and opens up their relational network to to the messenger - be that a missionary or a local lay believer crossing the street in their neighborhood.  In this use, the PoP doesn't necessarily need to be someone who initially accepts the message, but rather gives permission to the messenger to share with the group.  They are often a gatekeeper of sorts - an elder of the village or the patriarch of a family.  God is using them to open the door for the message to go forward in their context.  This is also sometimes referred to as a House of Peace.

A second way the idea of the Person of Peace is used is to simply indicate someone whom God has prepared to receive the gospel.  They are a seeker, a God prepared person.  Perhaps they've had a dream or a vision or have had a crisis in life that caused them to do some deep soul searching. Their heart is prepared to respond to the gospel.  They are ready to receive the messenger and the message.

A final way I often hear to idea of the Person of Peace discussed is that they not only are prepared to receive the gospel, but they are also ready and able to reproduce and share the good news with other.  They receive the message and the messenger but they also readily receive the mission.  When the woman at the well believes Jesus in John 4 she immediately takes that message back to he village where she tells everyone the good news and brings them to Jesus.  Many would also refer to this person as a "Fourth Soil Person" who reproduces 30, 60 or 100 times from the Parable of the Sower. 

All of these definitions work but as you are reading the literature or listening to interviews with practitioners, it is helpful to understand how they are using the term.  It was a bit confusing for me the first time I ran into the different ways it was being used.  

Perhaps there are other ways to think about the Person of Peace.  If so, let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Until then, I'd encourage you to download this discovery tool to help you learn about the Person of Peace from Jesus' ministry in the gospels.  Trainer's notes are included on page three.

Discovering the Person of Peace Scripture Hammer