About Seek Peace

Equipping the Church to be a voice for peace in every community

In conflict, faith goes one of two ways. It’s used to deepen divides, or it gives people courage to cross them. Some of the most committed peacebuilders in our world are local Christians doing the second, often with very few resources. We exist to support them.

  • Nigeria
  • Ghana
  • Kenya
  • Lebanon
  • United Kingdom

Seek Peace is a registered charity in England and Wales (CIO 1203516).

A smiling woman at a community savings group in northern Ghana CHIPS staff speaking at a community gathering in northern Ghana Sahlim Charles, founder of Re-Imagining New Communities, speaking at a workshop in Kenya Kay Hodge, co-founder of Seek Peace, speaking at an event in the UK Families sharing a meal together at the Al Shabiba Risala peace centre in Lebanon

Why we exist

Peace built locally should get the support it needs

  1. A community group meeting in the shade of a tree

    Peace is built locally

    Lasting peace is made by people who live with the conflict: who know its history, speak its languages and will still be there when outside programmes have gone.

  2. Two men smiling in front of a mud wall in northern Ghana

    Local peacebuilders are often best placed

    Trusted in their communities and motivated by faith, they reach across religious and ethnic lines: Christian and Muslim young people learning together in Jos, mixed football teams in Beirut, savings groups across old divides in northern Ghana.

  3. Students and community leaders outside the Kent Computer Training Center in Barkin Ladi, Nigeria

    But they are under-resourced and overlooked

    Most funding, research and technical expertise sits far away, with large international organisations. Small faith-motivated teams rarely have the staff or tools to design, measure and report in the way funders expect, so their work goes unseen.

  4. A young woman presenting her group's drawing at a community workshop

    So we come alongside as a learning partner

    We bring the technical skills, research and funding connections they lack, and they lead. Our support is long-term, free to our partners and consistent.

    We help to map the systems that drive conflict, test assumptions and, through pilot projects, build a shared understanding of what can change.

This is how we do it

In their words

“Seek Peace has brought so much clarity to our work. It has not only strengthened our system but also shifted our thinking and engagement strategy.”

Sahlim Charles Founder and Executive Director, Re-Imagining New Communities, Kenya

“Seek Peace helped us put our thoughts, visions, desires and calling into words. Now we move forward with our peace ministry with conviction and confidence.”

Roula Geryes Taleb Co-Founder, Al Shabiba Risala, Lebanon

“The consistent capacity support from Seek Peace greatly enriched our data collection and outcome harvesting, making them both insightful and compelling.”

Joseph Gyandi Executive Director, CRUDAN, Nigeria

“Measuring peace often does not have numbers or values attached to it. We need a charity like Seek Peace to help us create systems and metrics so that we can explain our impact.”

Alex Cameron Director, CHIPS, Ghana

What drives us

What kind of faith builds peace?

The Christian faith has an ancient tradition of peace, but not every expression of it brings about change. This is the messy, relational and hopeful faith that drives our work.

What kind of peacebuilding?

Our perspective is local, decolonised and faith-inclusive. It is messy, sacred and grounded in people’s histories, hurts, hopes and beliefs.

  • It is both priestly and prophetic

    It stands with people in their pain, offering care, mercy and safe places to heal. It also names what is wrong, including in the church, grieves it and holds out hope that it can change. Most peacebuilders lean one way. We help our partners speak to both.

    Not Peace without truth, or truth without love

  • It is expressed through hospitality and humility

    It sees the image of God in every person, and shows it in hospitality to the stranger, the other and even the enemy. It takes the humility to remove the log from our own eye: holding our faith with conviction, but our ideas lightly, believing God teaches us through others.

    Not A vehicle for tribalism

  • It carries hope for something new

    Scripture tells a repeating story of exodus: a path towards truth, justice, forgiveness and liberation, even in messy realities. It calls us to use whatever power and privilege we have to build new, shared futures.

    Not Individualist

  • It wrestles honestly with hard questions

    It invites us to wrestle genuinely with life’s profound questions, like suffering, rather than reaching for easy answers.

    Not Reductionist

  • Rooted in community relationships

    Peace begins in local communities, often in quiet ways: restoring relationships, healing trauma and reweaving trust, not just signing agreements.

    Not Imposed from outside

  • Draws on cultural and spiritual wisdom

    Forgiveness, justice, truth-telling and reconciliation are grounded in traditions of faith. Local religious leaders are often the most trusted mediators.

    Not Only conflict resolution

  • Centres the voices of the marginalised

    Women, young people and other marginalised groups are often on the front line of peace. They should define it and lead it.

    Not Apolitical or neutral

  • Long-term and iterative

    Peacebuilding is a generational effort that needs patience, listening and a willingness to keep learning.

    Not Transactional or donor-driven

Our staff

The team

A small team based in the UK, working with an international team of staff and consultants.

  • John Hodge, Head of Programmes and Consulting

    John Hodge

    Head of Programmes and Consulting

    BA Law, MA Peacebuilding and Reconciliation. Lived and worked in Jos, Nigeria for five years.

  • Kay Hodge, Research and Operations Director

    Kay Hodge

    Research and Operations Director

    MSc Sustainable Development. ESRC-funded PhD candidate in Government and International Affairs.

  • Boniface Agbo, Senior Partnerships Manager, Nigeria

    Boniface Agbo

    Senior Partnerships Manager, Nigeria

    MSc and BSc Accounting, MA Organisational Leadership (in view). Leads our partnerships in Nigeria.

  • Roisin Lawrence, Operations and Finance Coordinator

    Roisin Lawrence

    Operations and Finance Coordinator

    BA Hons Philosophy and Theology, MA Gender Studies (Middle East).

Governance

Our trustees

Our board are volunteers who oversee our governance, finances and safeguarding, and hold us to our values.

  • Paul Clark, Chair of Trustees

    Paul Clark

    Chair

    ICAEW member and retired Audit Partner at BDO LLP.

  • Dr Alistair Sim, Trustee

    Dr Alistair Sim

    Trustee

    Retired Principal Scientific Advisor in Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning at Compassion International.

  • Marika Pietsch, Trustee

    Marika Pietsch

    Trustee

    MA Peacebuilding and Reconciliation. MEAL practitioner and humanitarian worker.

  • Nigel Thomas, Trustee

    Nigel Thomas

    Trustee

    Experienced non-profit and church trustee and administrator.

Accountability

How we are governed, and where to check.

  • Registered charity

    A charitable incorporated organisation in England and Wales, number 1203516.

    View on the register

  • Annual reports and accounts

    Our trustees’ report and accounts are filed with the Charity Commission every year.

    Read our accounts

  • Safeguarding

    Our safeguarding policy covers our staff, consultants and the partners we work with.

    Read the policy

  • Statement of faith

    What we believe as a Christian charity, and the commitments that come with it.

    Read our statement