Relationships & Peacemaking

How to respond to gossip …

Our church is going through The Peacemaking Church Small Group Study (based on the Bible–and Ken Sande’s book The Peacemaker) and wow! Is it great!

If it’s been awhile since you’ve read The Peacemaker–or if you never have done so–I hope you’ll consider not only reading the book but doing so in the context of a small group Bible study. There is just nothing like the accountability, love, and safety of a small group to “force” us to get these biblical principles out of the realm of the HYPOTHETICAL (“confessional theology”) and into the realm of the REAL LIFE HOW WE ACTUALLY LIVE (“practical theology”).

Let me give you just one example from last night …

We were discussing how hard it is to obey God’s Word and follow His peacemaking principles with UNBELIEVERS–especially AT OUR WORKPLACES and ESPECIALLY when it comes to GOSSIP. (I.e., it’s so easy to jump in and gossip too! Or even if we don’t explicitly gossip–to raise an eyebrow or nod. Or even if we don’t do THAT–to still participate in the conversation, and thus, give tacit approval to the gossip or slander.)

In response to this discussion, two women in our small group tag-teamed on each other to give this advice on one way we might respond when someone is gossiping around us:

Gently … carefully … say something to the effect of, “Are you telling me this because you’d like my help to resolve this? Otherwise, I don’t think I should be hearing this.”

 

I think they are spot-on in this advice. Do you agree?

Fred left this morning at 4:45AM for The Peacemaker Conference (in North Carolina) and (after dropping off a dog for a four-day doggy playdate and a girl and her fish for a four-day sleepover tonight) AND after (LORD WILLING!!) getting my speaker notes ready for FOUR WORKSHOPS that I’m teaching (please do pray for me today!), I leave in the morning too.

Hope to be blogging from the conference

Love to all!
— Tara B.