The following articles and true stories address conflict and peacemaking issues related to the local church. While not exhaustive, these articles can be a good place to begin exploring concepts of peacemaking for your church.
by Ken Sande, President of Peacemaker Ministries. Ken shares some timely insights in this article on how best to address the issue of sexual abuse in the church.
by Ken Sande, President of Peacemaker Ministries. Every year hundreds of churches and ministries are thrown into turmoil when someone criticizes or raises serious questions about the conduct of a pastor or ministry executive. In this article, Ken Sande discusses the best way to provide church leaders with loving accountability.
by Chip Zimmer, Director of International Ministries. Chip answers the question, "How do I become a peacemaker?" by providing practical advice to begin a lifestyle ministry as a peacemaker.
by Ken Sande, President of Peacemaker Ministries. Many pastors have extraordinary gifts in areas of preaching and teaching, yet struggle to connect personally and gain the trust of their church members. In this article, Ken Sande unpacks the issue of approachability and how to cultivate it as a church leader.
by Chip Zimmer, Director of International Ministries. The church plays a vital role in God's design for peacemaking. This article discusses how you can help your church begin living up to God's high calling.
by David V. Edling, Jeffrey Dodd, and Molly Routson. This article makes the case that according to Scripture, the church, in fact, must be a peacemaking forum.
by Ken Sande, President of Peacemaker Ministries. As we interact with other people, we must constantly make judgments about their words and actions so that we can respond to them appropriately. But the Bible warns that we are prone to look for the worst in people at times, and we judge them more critically than they deserve. In this article, Ken Sande provides practical ways to guard against this tendency and to follow Jesus' example of making accurate and charitable judgments about others.
by Gary D. Friesen. This article is a parable about conflict, communicating how the turning point in conflict usually comes when individuals take responsibility for their own actions through repentance, confession and forgiveness.
by David V. Edling, Senior Ministry Consultant, Peacemaker Ministries. This article gives wise counsel and a foundation for action to pastors and mediators who are in the midst of church conflict.
by David V. Edling, Senior Ministry Consultant, Peacemaker Ministries. How does a church follow the biblical admonition to be in the world but not of it? One way to address the culture within the church is to be intentional about how it prepares for and handles conflict.
by Ken Sande, President of Peacemaker Ministries. Drawn from a chapter Ken Sande wrote for the book Pastoral Leadership for Manhood and Womanhood, this article encourages pastors and layleaders to rescue their people from divorce by exercising loving, restorative church discipline.
by Ted Kober. While this article's original purpose was to speak to the root causes of conflict within a specific denomination, it also applies to anyone who wants to see the church—the bride of Christ—healed of unresolved conflict.
by Ken Sande, President of Peacemaker Ministries. This article points out the dangers that lawsuits pose to churches today, and gives specific actions that churches can take to protect themselves.
by David V. Edling and Lynn Pace. This article addresses the relationship between civil law and people of faith, especially as it relates to Christian conciliation.
by Ken Sande, President of Peacemaker Ministries. This article discusses the appropriate role for "professionals" in the area of peacemaking and Christian conciliation.
by Ken Sande, President of Peacemaker Ministries. When conflicts involve the pastor, the whole church suffers. In this article, Ken Sande looks at the pressure that pastors face and how to prepare and protect them from conflict.
by Dr. Alfred J. Poirier, Chairman of the Board of Directors for Peacemaker Ministries. This article is a thorough critique of a "scientific" view of forgiveness and a discussion of the role of psychological empirical research in Christian counseling.
by David V. Edling, Senior Ministry Consultant, Peacemaker Ministries. This article discusses what Jesus meant when he said, "...tell it to the church..." in Matthew 18:17, particularly focusing on its place within redemptive church discipline.
by Donald L. Bubna, member of Peacemaker Ministries' Board of Directors. This article identifies the divisive spirit that characterizes many churches today, and then shows how a church can change to become unified for the glory of God.
by Ken Sande, President of Peacemaker Ministries. In an eye-opening look at several empirical studies, Ken estimates the staggering financial cost of conflict in the church today.
by Dr. Alfred J. Poirier, Chairman of the Peacemaker Ministries Board of Directors. In this article, Dr. Poirier tells his experience of God's amazing work of reconciliation in a deeply conflicted church, where instead of a split or continued dispute, the church finds forgiveness and reconciliation.
by Ken Sande, President of Peacemaker Ministries. This article discusses five myths that people in the midst of divorce are often fooled into believing.
Church discipline often has a negative connotation—harsh, retaliatory, or dictatorial. But church discipline, when its purpose is loving restoration, is a great benefit to the church and its "lost sheep," as evidenced by this True Story of a reconciled marriage.
by Heather Smith. The belittling remark from the pulpit cut Heather deeply -- even more so since the pastor was also her husband! What is the appropriate way to handle this very public conflict?
What do you do when a group of people is criticizing an individual who is not present? This brief testimony shows how a bit of boldness, Scripture, and the Holy Spirit can move people back in the right direction.
Business disputes between Christians are more common than you might think, and they often result in an unecessary lawsuit. This story illustrates how a church can encourage Christian conciliation (in this case, mediation), helping to bring about a just solution to a dispute while facilitating personal reconciliation.
How can we "accept one another" (Rom. 15:7) and "look out for one another's interests" (Phil. 2:4) when an issue threatens to divide our church? With the help of wise leadership, one congregation puts these verses into practice in this story of the disagreements over Christian education in their church.
by Ken Sande, President of Peacemaker Ministries. At first, Ken was embarrassed by the confession his pastor gave from the pulpit in church. But later, he saw just how much the Lord can use such a simple, yet genuine, display of humility.
How often in our churches do we get into conflict while trying to "do" ministry? Our underlying goals may be good, but we still needlessly fight with one another. What a witness for Christ! In this story, doctrinal differences nearly divide a Sunday school committee until they learn a biblical way to negotiate and work together.
The death of a parent and subsequent resolution of the estate can bring to the surface many painful family conflicts. But a caring church can help bring healing and reconciliation to these families, as it does in this story.
So often, it is far easier to ignore conflict and its negative effects than to deal with it head on—especially if the source of the conflict is in the distant past. In this letter of testimony, a pastor avoids the easy route of ignoring the past conflict and instead, leads his new church in a powerful act of reconciliation.
by David V. Edling and Molly Routson. This article addresses some of the impact of postmodernism on the church today, particularly in the area of peacemaking.
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