I am a peacemaker

I figured if I declare it on my blog then it will make me more responsible to live this way. Although given my actions last night at home, you'd never know it!! Funny how God gives us opportunities to practice our newly acquired skills so quickly!! I think I passed and then dramatically failed tests yesterday. Let me tell you more...

11 years ago I interned for the summer at a ministry called Peacemaker Ministries. It was the summer before my Sr year of highschool. I read The Peacemaker that summer. It changed my life. Before I read the book I didn't think I had conflict and afterwards I realized my life was riddled with it!! And I now had great tools in how to deal with it.

Fast forward a year, I had fallen in love with the ministry over the summer and was offered a job after I graduated so I moved out there (Billings, MT) 2 weeks after I walked the stage.

I started off in the resource department and moved up to the event coordinator within a year. I LOVED it!! But lots of work! A year later the job was divided 3 ways and I ended up as the Annual Conference Coordinator. I coordinated 2 more conferences, 3 in total, before I moved to Portland, OR to pursue school. During my time at Peacemakers I had attended a mediation training course but wasn't really sure what to do with the information.

Back to Portland, As you may already realize, I didn't get very far in school ;) 3 years at community college doesn't add up to much. But lack of $$ is kind of hindrance.

During this time I'd been applying what I had learned at Peacemakers and in the book through different areas of my life and with my friends. Although not many people know me as someone who can help with conflict (perhaps I didn't advertise or didn't do a very good job of it myself), but we talked about it casually.

But I still love the ministry of peacemaking. Now it has extended past the ministry itself and into what God can do through reconciliation. Sometimes we don't actually solve or fix anything but we've reconciled with Christ or done what we could to reconcile with another. It's so powerful!! There can be so much hope in conflict. The Peacemaker material suggest we have 3 opportunities in every conflict we face, to glorify God, to serve others, and through those two things, to grow to be more like Christ. And just because you read that, you'll probably have a chance to use it... so watch out!! ;)

This past summer God provided some open doors to start a *Peacemaking Team at my church. Through prayer and green lights, our team of 4-8 (not sure how many it will end up being) are working through reading the book and doing the small group study together. We also have a Peacemaker Seminar on the calendar for January. I am STOKED to have an opportunity to be involved on this level!

God also provided the means for me to attend Peacemaker's Annual Conference and Conflict Coaching Training last week. I attended the coaching first and was graciously guided through sharing Christ-centered peacemaking principles with others through role-plays and demonstrations. I was amazed at how it all fell together and was SO thankful for the opportunity to learn these skills as we encounter people who need help with conflict in every area of life! (I've already had a chance to use some of what I learned!!) And my role-play partner even spoke redemptive and encouraging words to me as we role played sharing Christ's promises to someone dealing with heart issues of being "not-enough". I nearly cried!! And it was a role play!! I briefly shared with him my story of feeling inadequate to lead a team at church and he shared encouraging scripture with me.

By the end of the training on Thursday, before the conference even started, I felt like I had been filled more than I had hoped!!!!

The conference continued with amazing speakers and encouraging workshops that shared, over and over again, Christ and what he's done for us and why we do peacemaking. As Pastor John Stumbo so beautifully put it, "we don't do this [peacemaking] to get results. We do it because it's right." I could say so much more but I just wouldn't know where to start! Between the amazing people and the fantastic words I heard and the amazing flood of peace that God washed over my heart last week I just feel encouraged and eager to share with others what God has shared with me and confident that he has me where he wants me, even if I don't understand.

Other than being eager to share the excitement of all I absorbed last week, why am I saying all of this? For 2 reasons. 1 is selfish, I want to be held accountable for what I know. If I know that others are watching and that I've committed myself in so many ways, it will give me greater pause before responding in a conflict or potential conflict situation. And 2, because I want YOU to have the encouragement I've received.

May we seek to glorify God through your conflict and serve others as you grow to be more like Christ! If you want more info about all this, check out the links I included throughout my blog or let me know and we can talk about it. I'd love to share the hope of reconciliation!


*Dislaimer: it's not that Sunset or any church has more conflict than another or is in more desperate need of peacemaking than another, but that the church should be the example of reconciliation to others. Because Christ has given us (and everyone) the opportunity to reconcile to him! What more could we do for others than to extend them the same grace we've been extended. Not simply overlooking any offenses but by showing Christ in the way we resolve the offense or dispute, confessing our sins in the contribution we made to the situation and by forgiving, as Christ forgave us. It's really all about the gospel!!