Serving Wisely in Complicated Conciliation Cases

The basic principles of biblical peacemaking and Christian conciliation, such as mutual confession and forgiveness, interest-based negotiation and mediation by a trusted Christian leader, have proven to be effective in the vast majority of conflicts that Christians experience in daily life. However, these basic principles and procedures need to be used with far greater care and circumspection when dealing with complicating issues such as power imbalances, abuse, trauma, complex legal issues, addictions or mental illness.

In this workshop a panel of experienced conciliators will walk through some of the best practices developed within the Christian conciliation community for interviewing and screening for these types of issues, recognizing when referrals are necessary, bringing in spiritual advisors or expert professionals, and enhancing conciliation procedures to ensure that parties are provided with safe, biblically faithful and effective ways to fully address all of the issues that have contributed to their conflict.

This workshop will also provide guidance on how to respond to articles, reports and social media that highlight the deficiencies and misuses of Christian conciliation.

Session Leader: Ken Sande, Allison Pickering, Ted Kober

Location/Times: Conference Schedule

Workshop Outline