Members of Church and Peace, an ecumenical network of peace organizations in Europe that includes several Anabaptist organizations, reiterated their commitment to supporting a nonmilitary end to the war in Ukraine during the organization’s international conference Oct. 20-23 in Crikvenica, Croatia.

Representatives from 13 European nations and four non-European countries called for churches and their members to do everything they can to support reaching a rapid cease fire, enabling diplomatic negotiations to begin. Meeting in the western Balkans and Southeast Europe, Christian and Muslim conference participants learned from local peacemakers about their experience with nonviolent action in war 25 years earlier: Military resistance seems plausible when looking at war from the beginning, but looking at war from the end shows the “military solution” is a disaster.

The conference endorsed the Sept. 8 World Council of Churches statement “War in Ukraine, Peace and Justice in the European Region,” which calls for greater investment in the governments of Europe and the entire international community in promoting peace and strengthening nonviolent conflict resolution and reconciliation.