How to be a Christian Conciliator

I’ve had a mini-run of people asking me for advice on how to “get into” the field of Christian conciliation. Since I thought the topic might be of interest to the 1,000 or so of you who regularly read this blog every week, here are my recommendations:

1. Live the gospel / breathe grace / be a peacemaker in your own relationships. You can’t help someone else if you are not first internalizing these truths and (imperfectly of course!) faithfully striving to obey all that God requires re: loving your neighbor.

2. Serve within your local church. Even if you’re just at the initial stage of “Oh wow! I read The Peacemaker and I’m really excited about this peacemaking thing!” Great. So look around and ask yourself how you might (gently!) introduce the concepts into whatever sphere of influence you already have within your church. Do you work with kids? Maybe ask the person in charge if you can share The Young Peacemaker principles with the other teachers or post the YP posters in the C.E. hallway. Are you passionate about missions? Check out The Team Peacemaker and International Peacemaking materials. Ask to teach the basic peacemaking principles; the next time someone complains to you about their inlaws, grab a Slippery Slope card or flip over a sheet of paper and draw three trees.

If you are living as a peacemaker and gently promoting peacemaking in your church–before you know it, you will have more and more opportunities to serve. That’s when you’ll want to be sure you’re getting more training (next point) and consider the timing of asking your leaders if you can establish a Peacemaking Team in your church.

3. Do all of the training you can from Peacemaker Ministries and The Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation. Biblical. Cross-centered. Practical. Eat it up! No matter what happens in life, you will be better equipped to minister and serve. And if you do end up as a Christian conciliator? It’ll be the bread and butter of how you bring truth and grace to bear in the lives of people in conflict.

So … do you need a bachelor’s degree in organizational communication and conflict resolution / a second Master’s degree in the dynamics of conflicted individuals and their entities / a law degree? Ummmmm … no. Might be helpful, sure! But it’s not like you’ll finish your degree, hang out a shingle that says, “Christian conciliator” and be ready to serve. Plus, as I am quite confident every single Certified Christian Conciliator with the Institute for Christian Conciliation, a division of Peacemaker Ministries would tell you … it’s not like you can easily make a living off of peacemaking (i.e., don’t give up your day job).

But are we called to be peacemakers? Yes! All of us. Every single Christian.

“Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God.” Matthew 5:9

Amen!

And hope this post helps you if you’re trying to figure out whether or how you should pursue the ministry of Christian conciliation.

Blessings to you!

In Christ our Joy,
Tara B.

PS
When I was poking around to find your links this morning, I found a much more articulate article on this topic written by the (wise & winsome) Chip Zimmer. You may want to check out: Answering The Call to Peacemaking