Peacemaking is one of the highest callings in life. It involves a special set of skills that enable you to resolve your own conflicts personally and privately and to help others make peace in their families, places of work and communities.
We live in a fallen world that is often filled with conflict.
Friendships enrich our lives, but they sometimes fall apart because of misunderstandings and unmet expectations.
Marriages begin with joyful companionship, but all too often they lose their joy and sometimes end in bitter divorce.
Children are a delight, but they can break our hearts if they reject us.
Coworkers make us productive, but they can also turn our jobs into a nightmare.
There is no escaping it: conflict is a part of life.
But amidst all the conflict in this world, there are those who make peace. There are people who resolve differences, restore broken marriages, reconcile estranged children, heal church splits and settle lawsuits.
These people are called “peacemakers.” Peacemakers are people who breathe grace. They have a disposition to show kindness and patience to others and to resolve conflicts in ways that dissipate anger, improve understanding, promote justice and encourage forgiveness and reconciliation.
Most people have developed automatic ways of responding to conflict, which can lead us down a slippery slope that makes conflict worse.
Some people prefer to escape from conflict through denial or by fleeing from relationships, which delays lasting solutions.
Others move into an attack mode, use gossip, harsh words, physical intimidation or lawsuits to dominate others, which destroys relationships.
Peacemakers know how to avoid impulsive reactions and instead resolve conflict through confession, forgiveness and negotiation, or by seeking outside assistance through mediation, arbitration or church intervention. One way or another, they excel in leading people back onto a path of peace.
Peacemaking involves the wise application of key relational skills that may be summarized as the Four G’s of Peacemaking.
Relational peacemaking has been used to resolve a wide variety of conflicts, including negligence, breach of contract, defamation, divorce, wrongful discharge, breach of fiduciary responsibility, abuse, assault and even warring tribes in Africa.
This free ebooklet provides a detailed introduction to the key principles of relational peacemaking, including when to overlook minor offense, when and how to correct others, how to make a credible confession, how to forgive, how to negotiate just agreements, and when and how to seek mediation assistance.
Go deeper today by scheduling a live seminar to introduce your team to the key principles and skills of relational peacemaking.
