As a part of the session's leadership, a stated commitment will provide direction to the congregation. It can encourage members of the congregation to do peacemaking in their own lives, their families, their congregation, community, and in the international arena. A stated commitment serves as a witness to others. It declares that proclaiming and becoming a part of God's peacegiving is a mission priority of the congregation. A stated commitment provides a means for evaluating the congregation's peacemaking effort.
Growth is easier to evaluate if the session has agreed on the goals of a peacemaking ministry.
A stated commitment can facilitate contact and conversation with other Presbyterian congregations and, perhaps, congregations of other denominations involved in peacemaking, and it can enable the development of joint efforts. A public promise to do peacemaking focuses and energizes a congregation's peacemaking journey, much as confirmation energizes and individual's faith journey. It would be difficult for most congregations to do everything at once. This covenant provides opportunities to choose areas of emphasis that can be varied from year to year. Making this commitment is not necessarily as sign that a congregation is new to peacemaking.