Christian Conciliation Service® – Biblical Conflict Resolution

Conflict Is Painful … But It’s also an Opportunity

We know how painful conflict can be. Whether it’s a strained friendship, a stab on social media, a critical coworker, a marriage headed toward divorce, a threatening lawsuit or a church plagued by division, conflict can suck the life out of us.

But don’t give up, because conflict also provides an opportunity to experience and model God’s peacemaking wisdom and grace.

RW360’s vision is to equip, empower and assist you to respond to conflict in ways that promote justice, encourage reconciliation and inspire personal growth. We provide this assistance in three phases.

Phase 1: Personal Peacemaking

Many conflicts can be revolved personally and privately when people learn and apply the basic principles of peacemaking (see Matt. 5:9; 5:23-24; 18:15). Therefore, before you seek outside conciliation assistance, we encourage you to make a sincere effort to study and apply the principles set forth in An Overview of Biblical Peacemaking, which provides practical guidance on how to identify the underlying causes of conflict, how to confess, confront and forgive wrongs, how to negotiate just and reasonable agreements, how to respond to abuse and when to seek outside assistance in resolving a conflict.

If you apply these simple but powerful principles with prayerful humility, you will be surprised how often your example will trigger the “Golden Result” as people begin to treat you the way you are treating them (see Reconciled by a Baby Moose).

Phase 2: Informal Conciliation

If you are unable to resolve a conflict through your own personal efforts, the next step is to seek assistance from your pastor, a church leader or a spiritually mature friend (see Matt. 18:16; 1 Cor. 6:1-8). Guiding People Through Conflict provides detailed guidance on how these individuals can assist you through informal conflict coaching, mediation or binding arbitration.

If other individuals are willing to assist you but needs advice on how to do so, they may request guidance from a trained conciliator through RW360’s Conciliation Hotline.

Phase 3: Professional Conciliation

Although many conflicts can be resolved through personal peacemaking or informal conciliation, some conflicts are so complex that it is wise to seek the assistance of professionally trained conciliators . Such assistance is especially helpful in these types of cases:

  • Serious conflicts within a church or ministry leadership team, including cases of moral failure, governance deadlock or long-term discord.
  • Serious congregational conflict, especially when the leadership team has little training or experience in conflict resolution or has lost its credibility with a significant portion of the congregation.
  • Disputes that involve complex legal issues or significant financial or property rights.
  • Marital, divorce or childcare conflicts that the leadership team is not trained to address.
  • Cases involving emotional trauma, power imbalances or abuse (physical, emotional, sexual, child, elder, spiritual, etc.).

The Handbook for Christian Conciliation provides a detailed description of a formal conciliation process, including Rules of Procedure and  Frequently Asked Questions.

Professional conciliation typically costs between $100 and $200/hour and may cost over $500/hour in complex cases. Therefore, RW360 strongly encourages parties to make every effort to resolve a conflict through personal peacemaking or informal conciliation before submitting a request for professional assistance. We also encourage you to carefully read the following information prior to submitting a request for assistance.

Frequently Asked Questions About Conciliation

How Does Conciliation Deal with Trauma, Power Imbalances and Abuse?

Conflicts involving emotional trauma, power imbalances or abuse (physical, emotional, sexual, child, elder, spiritual, etc.) require the involvement of conciliators or other professionals who are specifically trained to deal with these types of issues. If your situation may involve any of these dynamics, please indicate that when submitting a request for assistance.

Many abusers become skilled at twisting biblical principles to their advantage, including the principles taught in The Peacemaker. Therefore, if you are in an abusive situation, we encourage to read Peacemaking and Abuse.

If there are credible allegations or signs of significant abuse, we will usually require an independent investigation to unearth hidden facts and patterns before proceeding with a conciliation process. When searching for qualified faith-based abuse investigators, we encourage you to consider these best practices.

If you are dealing with a situation involving domestic abuse, we recommend that you contact Beauty from Ashes directly, which specializes in providing conciliation and support services in these situations.

Do Conciliators Provide Legal Advice?

RW360 and our conciliators do not provide legal advice or representation. If the situation you are facing requires such assistance, please contact one of these organizations:

Can You Provide Examples of How Christian Conciliation Works in Real Cases?

Yes. Here are just a few examples of Christian conciliation in action:

Can Conciliation Resolve Divorce and Child Custody Disputes?

Divorce and child custody disputes often involve a combination of legal, financial, relational and spiritual issues. Conciliators do not provide professional legal or financial advice, but they are often able to assist parties to make progress on relational and spiritual issues by applying the principles of relational wisdom and biblical peacemaking. Sometimes this process opens the door for repentance and reconciliation and cancels the desire for a divorce. Even if reconciliation does not occur, conciliation can make it easier for parties to resolve other issues more reasonably and without a prolonged adversarial process.

Before you submit a Request for Conciliation Assistance form in a divorce or custody case (see link below), we encourage you to read through the following materials, asking God to help you, your spouse and your church see how these principles could be applied in your situation.

If these articles inspire you to continue working to save your marriage, we encourage you to seek individual or joint counseling from your pastor or a Christian counselor in your community, such as someone who has been trained through the Christian Counseling and Education Foundation.

Requesting for Conciliation Assistance Form

If you are a party in a dispute and would like to request a personal interview to learn more about our services, receive preliminary advice on how to deal with a conflict, or open a formal conciliation case, please complete our Request for Conciliation Assistance form.

Related Information

Peacemaking