Posts in the ‘For Practitioners’ Category

This is the second installment of a 10-video series that JustPeace is producing around the release of Tom Porter’s upcoming book, The Spirit & Art of Conflict Transformation: Creating a Culture of JustPeace.

JustPeace is pleased to announce a new book by Tom Porter, The Spirit & Art of Conflict Transformation: Creating a Culture of JustPeace, to be release by Upper Room Ministries in July.

Register now for the 2010 Gathering, “Leadership as a Mediating Presence in an Age of Anxiety,” featuring John Winn, Carole Cotton Winn, and Craig Gilliam from the Center for Pastoral Excellence.

For me, “conflict resolution” is not about resolving anything. It is about maturity, not resolution; growth, not comfort; deepening the soul, not simply easing the spirit.

Scriptural principles in the New Testament have much to say not only about the value of settling disputes outside of court, but also about the spiritual ramifications that are inherent in how we respond to wrongs.

Dr. Howard Zehr, professor of Restorative Justice at Eastern Mennonite University’s graduate Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, outlines 10 ways to live restoratively.

Covenants are mutual agreements that bind people together. They involve honoring other parties and require mutual accountability and responsibility. They define the significant relationships in the Bible, where there were basically two kinds of covenants, those between people and those between people and God.

I asked myself many times; can’t there be a better way to work through these issues? What does conflict mean to Christians? Why can’t we all “fight fairly?” Should someone have intervened prior to this disruptive time?

The circle process a great gift to the Church as it evokes the best of our theology, recognizes the importance of ritual and sacred space and time, emphasizes the significance of relational covenants, encourages deep listening and respectful speaking from
the heart, moves us away from parliamentary procedure to consensus decision‐making, creates an empowering servant or stewardship understanding of leadership, and focuses us on the mission of reconciliation, healing relationships and creating community.

The Table of Holy Communion can provide the place, the time, the ritual and the spiritual power for transforming our conflicts, healing our relationships and doing the work ofreconciliation in the world.