A Course That Will Change Your Life Relational Peacemaking™
Develop conflict resolution skills that enable you to reconcile broken relationships, negotiate just agreements and restore genuine peace and unity.
What Is Relational Peacemaking?
Relational Peacemaking is a 12-lesson course based on Ken Sande’s best-selling book, The Peacemaker, that equips you with practical skills you can use to resolve conflict and promote deep and lasting reconciliation in your home, church, workplace and community.
- Learn how to use conflict to bring glory to God
- How to make a sincere and meaningful confession
- How to help others see their contribution to a conflict
- How to forgive others as God has forgiven you
- How to negotiate just and reasonable agreements
- How to deal with people who refuse to be reasonable
You're Not Alone
Conflict Seems So Overwhelming When ...
You want to get better at resolving conflict, but you don't have a plan for improvement.
You want to admit your wrongs, but you've never learned how to make a meaningful confession.
You'd like to help others see their wrongs, but you don't know how to offer correction graciously.
You want to be a forgiving person, but you struggle with bitterness when others have hurt you.
You'd like to settle disagreements reasonably, but you never learned effective negotiation skills.
You'd love to help others resolve conflict, but you don't know how to be an effective mediator.
A Course That Changes Bad Habits Into Good Habits
Many of us come from families that seldom handled conflict well. Some family members blew up while others just clammed up. Yelling and blaming let off steam, but then it was icy cold silence while wounds slowly healed.
But we don’t need to be stuck in the patterns of the past. It’s never too late to start doing what’s right. Being made in the image of God, we are designed to grow and improve … to develop the very character of Christ.
Through this course, you can overcome years of bad examples and bad habits. You can learn to stop blaming others and instead set an example of taking responsibility for your contribution to a conflict, correcting others in a gentle way, and modeling the kind of deep and authentic forgiveness and wise negotiation that truly restores relationships.
Biblically Grounded Peacemaking skills in a Life-Changing Course
This course provides practical instruction, vivid demonstration videos and real life applications that equip you to take hold of Jesus’ marvelous promise, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God” (Matt. 5:9).
This training is designed for individual, group and organization-wide study and is available online and on DVD or flash drive in a group study set.
How it Works
1 - Teaching Videos
Each of the twelve lessons begins with a 25-35 minute teaching video that sets forth one of the key principles of relational wisdom. In the online course, these videos are divided into several short segments that include multiple-choice questions to test your understanding.
2 - Practical Application Questions
Each lesson includes 15-20 reflection and application questions that help you to think about ways that you can apply the key concepts in your life. These questions are also useful for triggering thoughtful conversations when studying the course with a group.
3 - Demonstration Videos
After the teaching section, each lesson then presents a realistic demonstration video that illustrates how other people have applied the key principle of the lesson in challenging life situations.
4 - Digging Deeper
At the end of each lesson, you will find optional articles that allow you to explore ways that relational peacemaking can be applied in areas of personal interest, including friendship, marriage, parenting, church, workplace, politics and conflict resolution.
The Results You Can Expect
Set an inspiring example as a peacemaker by modeling remarkably effective conflict resolution skills
Learn when to overlook minor offenses and how to graciously address offenses that are too serious to overlook.
Learn how to confess your wrongs in such a sincere and clear way that others will find it easier to forgive you.
Learn how to be such an effective negotiator that other people will come to you for advice on how to settle their conflicts.
Learn five powerful ways that you can respond to people who refuse to be reasonable.
Meet Your Instructor
Ken Sande is the founder of Peacemaker Ministries and RW360. Trained as an engineer, lawyer and mediator, Ken has conciliated hundreds of family, business, church and legal conflicts. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including The Peacemaker, which has sold over 500,000 copies in over twenty languages.
Ken teaches internationally on biblical peacemaking, Christian conciliation and relational wisdom, which is an enhanced form of emotional intelligence that helps people “get upstream of conflict” by improving their ability to read and manage emotions in themselves and others.
These concepts are being used by churches across the denominational spectrum and have been taught in the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and the Montana State Legislature and are being used to resolve lawsuits, strengthen relationships, restore marriages, stop abuse, improve job performance and career advancement, and resolve conflict in families, businesses, churches, schools, prisons and military bases in over 60 countries.
Ken has been certified as a Professional Engineer and currently serves as a Certified Emotional Intelligence Instructor with TalentSmartEQ and as a Certified RW Instructor, Coach and Conciliator with RW360. He has served as a church elder, an Editorial Advisor for Christianity Today, a Certified Professional Engineer and as a member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of the Montana Bar Association.
Twelve Life-Changing Lessons
1 - Conflict Provides Oportunties
As 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1 teaches, conflict usually provides you with three opportunities: glorify God, serve other people and grow to be more like Christ.
2 - Live at Peace
Real peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of true “shalom,” which is a combination of peace with God, peace with other people and peace within ourselves.
3 - Trust in the Lord and Do Good
Jesus repeatedly taught that nothing happens to a Christian apart from God’s perfect, loving will. Therefore, whenever we are facing a conflict, we can trust that he is with us and will give us all the wisdom and grace we need to respond to the situation in a way that honors him and is good for us.
4 - Is This Really Worth Fighting Over?
Many minor offenses in life can and should be overlooked. But some situations are too serious to overlook. Knowing when to overlook and when to press in is a vital peacemaking skill.
5 - Conflict Starts in the Heart
As James 4:1-3 teaches, conflict is usually triggered or magnified by desires in our hearts that turn into demands that cause us to judge and punish one another. This process is sometimes called “the progression of an idol,” and wise peacemakers know how to reverse this process.
6 - Confession Brings Freedom
When people give clumsy, half-hearted confessions loaded with blaming and excusing, conflicts just get worse. But when we learn how to give a thorough “7A Confession,” the door to reconciliation begins to open.
7 - Just Between the Two of You
When we learn the basic principles of confession, forgiveness and interest-based negotiation, we can resolve most of our conflicts by going to the other person and having a gracious, personal and private conversation.
8 - Speak the Truth in Love
Peacemakers are people who “breathe grace.” They draw continually on the goodness and power of Jesus Christ, and then they listen for understanding, ask insightful questions and speak the truth with wisdom and grace.
9 - Take One or Two Others Along
When you’re unable to resolve a conflict through personal, private conversations, it is appropriate to ask one or two respected friends or leaders to meet with you and the other person to pursue agreement.
10 - Forgive as God Forgave You
Christians are the most forgiven people in the world (through Jesus’ death and resurrection, God has washed our sins away and remembers them no more), therefore, we should be the most forgiving people in the world. In this lesson you will learn the “four promises of forgiveness” that reflect God’s forgiveness to you.
11 - Look Out for the Interests of Others
Philippians 2:4 calls us to “look out not only to our own interests but also to the interests of others.” This is the key to effective negotiation, which you will learn when you study the “PAUSE Principle of Negotiation.”
12 - Overcome Evil with God
No matter how faithfully you live out the basic principles of peacemaking, some people will refuse to reconcile. In this lesson you will learn five ways to respond to unreasonable people.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I begin my RW360 training with this course (Relational Peacemaking) or should I begin with the Relational Wisdom course?
You can begin your training with either of these foundational courses, both of which are prerequisites for our more advanced Shepherd, Instructor, Coach and Conciliator training. If you are currently or may soon be engaged in a significant conflict, it would be helpful to begin with our Relational Peacemaking Course. But if you are not in a current conflict, we recommend that you start with the Discovering Relational Wisdom course.
How long does the Relational Peacemaking course take to complete?
Most people complete the online course in 12 to 14 hours, but people who take full advantage of the optional supplemental materials can spend 20 or more hours deepening their understanding and expanding their relational skills.
How can I experience the greatest growth in relational peacemaking?
Studies show that the greatest growth in relational skills comes from combining personal study with individual coaching. The next most effective way to promote growth is to study relational peacemaking with a group of people, which helps to maintain momentum and deepen understanding through discussion of practical applications.
What are the different ways this course can be studied?
There are several ways you can study this course, both individually and in a group, and in live meetings or online:
- 1. Individual Online Study: Simply register for the online course and complete each lesson at your own pace. There is no time limit on how quickly you need to complete the course.
- 2. Interactive Online Group Study Cohort: If you want to accelerate your growth in relational peacemaking, you can sign up for an interactive study cohort (starting in January 2026) that meets weekly and is led by an Advanced RW Instructor who uses additional application exercises to deepen understanding of key relational peacemaking concepts.
- 3. Interactive Online Group Study: Another way to maximize your growth is to study relational peacemaking with your spouse and teens or with a group of friends or coworkers, which will help you to maintain momentum and deepen your understanding. The most popular way to do this is for each person to study one lesson a week on their own time and to then gather as a group in person or via zoom every one or two weeks to discuss what they are learning.
- 4. Live Sunday School Class: Many churches use the Relational Peacemaking Group Study Set for an 8-week Sunday school class.
- 5. Live Small Group Study: You could change the lives of many other people by leading a group study in your home or over a lunch break at your office. The Relational Peacemaking Group Study Set includes teaching videos, a leader’s guide and 10 study guides, so there is no need for advance training in order to lead a study group.
- 6. Live Seminar: Many churches and other organizations host a live 3-to-6-hour seminar taught by an Advanced RW Instructor to trigger interest in relational peacemaking and then encourage their members to participate in a follow-up Sunday school class or small study group to dig into the concepts more deeply. This combination of training can change the relational culture of an entire church or organization.
- 7. Organization-Wide Training: Businesses, schools, hospitals, military bases, parachurch ministries and other organizations can use either the online course or the small group study set to provide professional development training to change the relational culture of their entire organization.
What is the theological basis for RW360's training?
Our material is based on biblical principles that are fundamental to all Christian denominations. Moreover, the course requires students to read and evaluate for themselves hundreds of Scripture passages that support the key principles of our courses (see Biblical Foundation for RW, RW and Tri-Perspectivalism and Emotions in Christian Anthropology).
What is the neurological basis for RW360's training?
Ken Sande is a Certified Emotional Intelligence Instructor with TalentSmartEQ, the largest corporate EI trainer in the world. When developing RW360’s training resources, Ken drew on that organization’s data-based expertise, along with dozens of professional studies and books by other experts in this field, including Daniel Goleman’s best selling books on emotional intelligence.
Has your training been approved for continuing education credit?
Yes. Our training has been approved for continuing ed credit for lawyers, nurses, teachers and other professionals. For more details, click here.
What ages can benefit from this course?
Although this course is rigorous enough to be used by adults in churches, seminaries, businesses and missions, it is simple enough for parents and children to study together. It can also be used to enable high school students in a Christian school obtain a “Certificate in Enhanced Emotional Intelligence,” which will enhance their resumes as they seek scholarships and jobs after graduation.
Why is a course of this quality so inexpensive?
Comparable secular programs cost from $149 to $2,000. Thanks to our ministry donors, we are able to make our training available at a far lower price ($49) so that it is easily affordable to anyone who wants to improve their relational skills and their witness for Christ. Another reason that we set the price at $49 is because we sometimes give this course to public servants for free, and most government agencies restrict workers from receiving gifts valued over $50.
Is it possible to receive a scholarship for this training?
Yes, scholarships are available for active or retired military, law enforcement, firefighters and similar first-responder personnel and their families, as well as for students and individuals with limited finances (click here for details).
Don't Wait for a Relational Crisis
Few things in life are more painful than lost friendships, divorce, estranged children, church splits or being fired from a job.
A few hours of peacemaking training can help you avoid these crises and equip you to resolve conflict in your home, church and workplace so effectively that others will ask you how they can learn the skills you have modeled.