In late October 2023, we ran into each other on the lawn outside the U.S. Capitol after joining a vigil hosted by the Jewish organization IfNotNow. We were outraged by Israel’s unfolding genocide in Gaza and had joined protests calling for a ceasefire.

During the vigil at the Capitol, we joined in the placing of visitation stones, a Jewish practice of mourning and remembering those who had been killed in Gaza and who had been killed by Hamas. We were moved by the faith practices and solidarity in the face of violence, destruction and pain.

We quickly came to the same question: What if we organized Mennonite and Anabaptist communities to center our faith practices and historic peace witness in calling for a ceasefire, too?

We knew the movement against the genocide needed as many voices as possible. And we hoped to give members of our historic peace church an outlet to put their faith into action in meaningful ways. We saw the opportunity to engage Mennonites, other Christians and friends in the practice of taking nonviolent action for political change, using our faith as a compass.

We started Mennonite Action without any assumptions about organizational success. Our work has always been grounded in our belief in organizing people to come together in community to take strategic, prayerful, peaceful public action for Palestinian liberation.

Over the past two and a half years, we — along with countless others — have had the privilege of leading this organization from that fledgling dream into a political movement powered by the Holy Spirit through Mennonites, Anabaptists and friends from all over the U.S. and Canada.

More than 10,000 people have participated in Mennonite Action, from joining in prayer on a mass call to direct actions to committing nonviolent acts of civil disobedience. Our organization has dozens of local chapters across the United States. We have raised well over $1 million to fund our activities and now have a staff of five who support hundreds of congregations and leaders to carry out Mennonite Action’s work taking public action for peace, justice and the liberation of all God’s children.

Five hundred years ago, our Anabaptist forebears took collective public action in opposition to oppressive state and church institutions for political freedom, religious freedom and a world modeled after the revolutionary example of Jesus Christ. We look to this legacy to inspire our efforts to publicly resist oppression wherever it occurs, from the United States to Palestine.

Mennonite Action embraces a vision of Christianity grounded in the liberating gospel of Jesus Christ. This gospel calls us to publicly and boldly oppose Christian nationalism and Christian Zionism and their deeply interwoven currents of far-right authoritarianism, antisemitism and White supremacy.

We’ve also attempted to confront the elements of Christian nationalism, Christian Zionism and hate that remain prevalent in our own faith tradition. We believe liberation for one means liberation for all. As an organization, we’re unabashedly supportive of our queer and trans Mennonite siblings, many of whom have felt discarded by the church in the past. We’re supportive of anyone who chooses to organize with us, regardless of whether they identify as Anabaptist. We’ve held mass calls on understanding and opposing antisemitism, on the history of queer Mennonites on Indigenous relationships to land, on the impacts of racial global capitalism, and much more.

This is the gospel Jesus preached: abandon silence and tirelessly enter boldly into public work for liberation. Flip some tables, get arrested while singing and praying together.

We’re proud of what Mennonite Action has grown into. Now we’re ready to hand it over to new leadership.

We believe that together we’ve built a movement that is here to stay. Many hands work tirelessly to sustain this movement: organizing trainings, participating in demonstrations, creating banner art, raising resources, praying for Gaza and our immigrant neighbors, and much more.

Alongside our core beliefs, a grassroots orientation has guided our decisions at the helm of Mennonite Action — from deciding to raise resources through small donor fundraising instead of pursuing large grants, to focusing on grassroots organizing and training.

Thousands of participants have rewarded that choice by turning Mennonite Action into a sustainable organization in a nontraditional way — by simply showing up: attending chapter meetings, getting arrested, becoming a monthly donor, joining mass calls.

Active participation and grassroots leadership are the foundation of our movement and the reasons we believe Mennonite Action will continue to be successful after both of us step away from our leadership roles.

On our first Mennonite Action mass call in November 2023, we asked people to take a chance on us. Now we’re asking for continued trust in Mennonite Action by helping us seek a new executive director, supporting our staff, funding our programs and carrying on demonstrating until Palestine is free and all God’s children are free.

Nick Martin and Adam Ramer are the co-founders and directors of Mennonite Action.