Peace Maker

My community small group started our new series, going through "The Peacemaking Church" videos and study guide based on Ken Sande's book "The Peace Maker".   This will be a good series for me because it fits well my phlegmatic personality type.

It is interesting that it was mentioned that we are to be peace "makers", and that merely being a peace "keeper" is not enough, since that doesn't really resolve the issue.  It was interesting to see "The Slippery Slope" diagram of the responses to conflict:  Escape Responses (Peace-faking) which focus on "Me", Attack Responses (Peace-breaking) which focus on "You", and Peacemaking responses which focus on "Us".  It was also a good reminder that in the midst of a conflict, we should remember the 4 G's:

• "Glorify God"
• "Get the log out of your eye"
• "Gently restore"
• "Go and be reconciled"

And the foundational G is the "Gospel of Christ"

In looking back, I can see that I have not resolved conflicts so well in the past, and I do tend to try to avoid them.  Yet, based on the passage on Joseph and Potiphar's wife (Gen 39:1-18), there are times when, after trying peace-making responses and finding that they aren't working, it may be appropriate to "flee".   But in terms of the peacemaking responses, I think the one that I use the most is probably "overlook an offense"  (the other ones are reconciliation, negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and accountability).   Through this study, it will be good for me to learn to be better at conflict resolution, and maybe to be able to utilize the other peacemaking responses as well.