RiseNepal Volunteers, supported by the Global Peace Foundation, members of the Asia Pacific Peace and Development Service Alliance and and United Kingdom NGO Byond, raise a transitional shelter in Kathmandu for victims of the April 25 earthquake that hit central Nepal.

The idea of service has steadily gained ground around the world. While the specific nature, purpose and efficacy of the various non-governmental organizations differ, we might infer that the rise of these civil service organizations represents the importance people place in the value of service to others.

In 2012 in the U.S. alone there were approximately 1.5 million NGOs. In 2010 in India, a country with a population of 1.5 billion, there seemed to be more than 3.3 million NGOs, equaling roughly 1 NGO for every 400 people. In Russia, despite governmental restrictions on NGOs, there was a reported quarter million entities registered in the country in 2008.

Yet, without taking away the tremendous good that they might bring through their respective work, are these solutions headed in the right direction? Is there something that they are working towards that does more than provide a service or fill a need?

These are the kinds of questions we must ask ourselves as people who are working to alleviate poverty, address environmental degradation or serve the sick and the needy; addressing a myriad of challenges that we face as a global community.

In a speech many years ago to a crowd of Service for Peace volunteers, Dr. Hyun Jin Moon challenged the audience to think about service differently, asking:

When you see a homeless man on the street and you don’t know him, you most likely will pass him by without a thought. Or, if perhaps you do know him, or you’ve seen him enough to be familiar – you might think to stop and help him out – to give some money or food or offer some assistance. But what would you do if you stop and see that this homeless man is your brother?

Dr. Hyun Jin Moon addresses the importance of youth and service with volunteers at an environmental clean-up near Kathmandu, Nepal in 2010.

This question gave everyone in the audience pause and it is one that we still need to ask ourselves today.

In a similar vein, this provocative social science experiment asked us to think differently about those who are homeless:

Would You Notice Your Own Family If They Were Homeless?

The vision of ‘One Family Under God’ challenges us to engage in something as seemingly simple as service, differently – as it challenges us to do much of everything we do in life differently. It asks us, how would you approach this need differently if we are, in fact, one family under God? Do we give a man a fish to feed him for a day? Would we do the same if the person was our child, our brother, sister, aunt, uncle, grandmother or grandfather?

In ‘One Family Under God’, the natural dynamic of society would be service for one another and for the greater good. Hence, if we serve because we are family, the next question is how can our service transform our current reality into a world of ‘One Family Under God’?

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Global Peace Volunteers cleaning up communities in Malaysia

Service has been an integral part of all of Dr. Hyun Jin Moon’s peace efforts, from Service for Peace, which he founded in 2002, to the Global Peace Foundation. Dr. Moon has described service as a powerful peacemaking tool that puts the value of living for the sake of others into action, and starts a process of personal transformation and social harmony.

A recent blog post by the Global Peace Foundation referenced an article by Fortune Magazine that wrote, “Service – whether elected, military, faith-based, or in the non-profit sector – brings people from across the country and across the aisle together to see eye to eye and learn from each other as they work for a shared purpose.”

The article pointed to a recent Pew Research report that showed the United States to be the most politically and ideologically divided as it has been in the last two decades. Fortune called on the millennial generation to engaged in more service to heal the rift and re-engage in public leadership. The article also pointed to a study by American University that said one in ten college students would choose to be mayor, even if the pay were the same amount as a business owner, sales person or teacher.

Political divide, inter and intra-religious conflict, ethnic tensions and apathy are international issues. Aisyah Hanah  of Malaysia University of Science and Technology observed, “Youth nowadays are segregate in so many ways, they need to re-learn to have empathy and the deep sense of inter-connectedness.”

Global Peace Foundation combines interfaith cooperation, strengthening the family and service to mitigate extremism, assuage tensions along identity-based fault lines and build moral and innovative leadership. As Dr. Moon has identified, service is a powerful hands-on tool that puts universal values learned in the family and faith communities into action. This process transforms individuals and breaks down barriers.

Participants hiking up to the top to build character through challenging experiences.

The blog on the Global Peace Foundation featured testimonies from a recent Global Peace Volunteer camp that was held in Malaysia. The leadership camps held across Asia Pacific in Cambodia, Indonesia, and Malaysia use outdoor challenge programs, leadership skills workshops and service projects to raise young peacemakers.

GPV Camps provide a place for participants to serve together, grow together, and become leaders together. A participant of the Malaysia program reflected, “At this camp you learn to step back and let other people step in. And as a group you collectively achieve better results. And I think that is the start of leadership that I want to pursue.”

Beyond leadership and self-development, the experience of serving together is a real experience of peacebuilding. Nadeyya Rahmat  a participant of a GPV camp in Malaysia reflected, “My perception of other religions is changed. Despite different faith and practices we have a creator. Hence, there shouldn’t be an issue with religion.” Service transcends traditional divides and unites individuals as they serve based on common values and experiences. One begins to realize that everyone in the human family cries and laughs in the same language, and that everyone in the human family is family.

These testimonies demonstrate that every small or large act of service begins a process that builds out into lasting and global peace. And that service should be considered a powerful tool for peacebuilding on all levels, whether in the community, the nation or the world.

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