Preparing Evangelical Protestants for Peace: The Evangelical Contribution on Northern Ireland (ECONI) and Peace Building 1987–2005

Abstract

In 1987, a group of Northern Irish Evangelicals created the Evangelical Contribution on Northern Ireland (ECONI) in order to challenge fundamentalists, such as Ian Paisley, directly, who were using religious rhetoric to pursue political aims in the aftermath of the 1985 Anglo–Irish Agreement. In the 18 years of its existence, ECONI has sought to develop a more nuanced understanding of Evangelicalism in Northern Ireland while actively encouraging Evangelicals to engage in peace building and to contemplate their role in the Conflict. It has done so by taking a three-staged approach, similar to that described by Vendley and Little: by embarking on a process of internal reflection and self criticism before examining and adjusting Evangelicals’ attitudes to peace making, then by disseminating its ideas and providing training courses in conflict resolution. This article explores the methods used by ECONI to complete each of these stages and demonstrates that through its peace and reconciliation work ECONI has provided some valuable lessons for faith-based peace building both within Northern Ireland and elsewhere.