CPT INTERNATIONAL: Sarah Thompson appointed CPT Executive Director
17 December 2013
Christian Peacemaker Teams is pleased to announce the appointment of Sarah Thompson to
the position of CPT Executive Director, starting in January 2014.
Thompson
brings a wide range of experiences to the position. Through her work in the
international peace movement as a public-speaker and community organizer, she
is adept at bringing people together across lines of difference and building
momentum for positive social change. Her Christian church involvements include
six years of volunteer work as the North American representative to Mennonite
World Conference’s Youth and Young Adult Executive Committee and Global Youth
Summit planning group, as well as service with Mennonite Central Committee in
Jerusalem, Washington, D.C. Advocacy office, and in her hometown of Elkhart,
Indiana, United States.
Thompson
has traveled across various continents through activist and volunteer work with
feminist anti-war movements, Spanish translation opportunities, the Fulbright
Scholarship, and Spelman College (graduated summa cum laude in 2006 with a
Comparative Women’s Studies & International Studies double major, and a
minor in Spanish).
A
2011 Masters of Divinity graduate of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary,
Thompson writes, “I am thrilled and humbled to participate with CPT in this
capacity. I feel called to the spiritual practice of building partnerships that
transform violence and oppression. I am grateful to all who have gone before me
to make this organization a place where I can use my gifts, bring my questions,
encounter challenges, and rely on support from allies and colleagues.”
Thompson
recalls, “I first learned about CPT’s edgy peacemaking programs and analysis of
structural oppression when I was in Peace Club at Bethany Christian High School
in Goshen, Indiana (1999-2002). After attending the CPT Peacemaker Congress my
sophomore year, I knew that CPT would be a part of my future. I was thinking more along the lines of when I
retired, but was delighted to have been invited to participate sooner.”
Outgoing
Director Carol Rose says, “This is going to be great! We are beginning a really
exciting period in CPT’s history. I am
confident to hand over leadership to Sarah who is creative, capable, and
caring. Her activism grounded in deep faith, coupled with her brilliant
thinking, brings a dynamism that will help keep CPT moving with joy and
partnering powerfully.”
Thompson
served as a member of CPT’s Steering Committee (2010-2012) and has worked for
the past year as CPT’s Outreach Coordinator. “I am very grateful for these
opportunities,” she says. “Like my previous work with grassroots, political,
and social-justice organization, working through CPT has been a deeply
formative and positive experience for me.” The focus of the Executive Director
role will be on strategic directions for organizational development, undoing
oppressions, and fund- and friend-raising.
To introduce yourself to
Sarah, and/or to schedule her for a speaking engagement or fundraising event
for CPT, please contact her at director@cpt.org. In
light of this good news, please share this announcement widely, and click
here to make a gift in support of Sarah as she begins as
Executive Director.
