Nurturing Youth to Lead the Way to Peace and Justice

“And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” – Micah 6:8

God blesses us with dreamers and doers — people who see the world not only as it is but also as it could be. Rev. Dr. Ron Swain, Chaplain and Director of Spiritual Life at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, is both a dreamer and a doer. His life’s work has been empowering young people to help their communities grow in spirit, compassion, and justice.

Dr. Swain is a board member, investor, and donor with Wesleyan Impact Partners because he is inspired by its impact, promoting dreamers and doers across the country, especially the Locke Innovative Leaders. Their work embodies his own commitment to build a beloved community, lifting up communities in Christ’s love.

“My purpose is to help build a ‘beloved community,’” Dr. Swain says, “following the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a vision of an inclusive sisterhood and brotherhood rooted in nonviolence and love. Our youth will lead the way.”

That vision shapes every part of his ministry. Dr. Swain believes in the power of youth to act as catalysts for justice and compassion, bringing people together and celebrating their differences. Through regular holy conversations in the community, he invites students and neighbors alike to gather in a spirit of deep listening to hear stories that might otherwise go unheard.

“We’re not here to debate or argue,” Dr. Swain says. “We’re here to do the hard, heart work of listening and learning — of paving the way for the beloved community to emerge.”

This spirit of listening and celebrating differences energizes the Peace Garden Initiative, which Dr. Swain helped create in partnership with the Rotary Club, local elementary, middle, and high schools, and Southwestern University students. Each participating school designs its own garden as a place of reflection and renewal. Each garden is centered on a peace pole inscribed with the simple, world-changing prayer: “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.”

“With these gardens,” Dr. Swain believes, “peacebuilding takes root. We must start with the youth. If they embrace peacemaking and listening, our world will change.”

Dr. Swain supports an endowment at Wesleyan Impact Partners that promotes the work of Locke Innovative Leaders, both for their loving impact in the communities they serve and their vital inspiration to youth answering God’s call to be leaders for peace and justice.

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