The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict
The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict book cover

The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict

Paperback – January 1, 2004

Price
$10.79
Format
Paperback
Pages
318
Publisher
Baker Books
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0801064852
Dimensions
6 x 0.73 x 9 inches
Weight
15.4 ounces

Description

"Of the enormous body of literature dealing with conflict resolution and its allied problems, this treatment is the most concrete and helpful I have yet to find." Conflict and disagreement are unavoidable.Peace can at times feel unattainable.But in every relationship, unity and harmony are possible. For more than twenty-five years, The Peacemaker has helped individuals fromall walks of life resolve personal conflicts by applying timeless biblical truths.Ken Sande's practical and proven methods are designed to bring about morethan simply a cease-fire. They will lead you toward true, life-changingreconciliation with family members, coworkers, and fellow believers. "'Blessed are the peacemakers,' said Jesus. With crystal clarity this manual lays before us the wisdom that leads humble souls into that blessing."-- J. I. Packer "Of people alive and writing today, I know of no more reliable guide for peacemaking in church and family than Ken Sande."-- John Piper "A practical and faithful primer for how obedience to God's Word can change deadlock into restoration."-- Charles W. Colson "Ken Sande challenges us to act redemptively in a culture of enmity and shows us how to do this in our relationships with one another. A modern classic!"-- Timothy George Ken Sande is the founder of Peacemaker Ministries, the Institute for Christian Conciliation and Relational Wisdom 360. Trained as an engineer, lawyer and mediator, Ken has conciliated hundreds of family, business, church, and legal conflicts. As president of RW360, he now focuses on teaching people how to "get upstream of conflict" by developing skills that strengthen relationships and reduce conflict in the family, church and workplace. He teaches internationally and is the author of numerous books, articles, and training resources, including The Peacemaker , which has sold over 500,000 copies in seventeen languages. He is a Certified Relational Wisdom Instructor and Conciliator, Emotional Intelligence Certified Instructor (through TalentSmart), and has served as a church elder and as an Editorial Adviser for Christianity Today. He and his wife, Corlette, have married children and a growing number of grandchildren, and love to hike and ski in the mountains near their home in Billings, Montana. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers." But it often seems like conflict and disagreement are unavoidable. Serious, divisive conflict is everywhere-within families, in the church, and out in the world. And it can seem impossible to overcome its negative force in our lives. In
  • The Peacemaker
  • , Ken Sande presents a comprehensive and practical theology for conflict resolution designed to bring about not only a cease-fire but also unity and harmony. Sande takes readers beyond resolving conflicts to true, life-changing reconciliation with family members, coworkers, and fellow believers. Biblically based, The Peacemaker is full of godly wisdom and useful suggestions that are easily applied to any relationship needing reconciliation. Sande's years of experience as an attorney and as president of Peacemaker Ministries will strengthen readers' confidence as they stand in the gap as peacemakers.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(1.1K)
★★★★
25%
(452)
★★★
15%
(271)
★★
7%
(127)
-7%
(-126)

Most Helpful Reviews

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POP-PSYCHOLOGY, NEW AGE SCRIPTURE-TWISTING! DO NOT BE FOOLED!

This book and process mixes pop-psychology, New Age laws of attraction and mis-applied Bible verses to arrive at a "man-centered" process of conflict resolution. I would not recommend this book to any true Christian or Biblically-based Christian Church.
21 people found this helpful
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If only I had known

I have worked at an international Christian school in Southeast Asia for 8 years as both a teacher and an administrator. One year ago I read "The Peacemaker." As I learned the Biblical principles of peacemaking and began putting them into practice, I said to myself, over and over, "If only I had known that when..."

But now, through this book, God has transformed my way of dealing with conflict. I have new courage to accept conflicts as opportunities to glorify God by pursuing peace. What's more, when co-workers, parents, students, and family seek me out for peacemaking help, I feel well-equipped to do it.
10 people found this helpful
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Great Biblical perspective

I didn't realize I was being a "Peace Faker". I thought I was doing the right thing in continually overlooking offenses. Ken Sande does a great job of showing what the Bible says about conflict and how it should be resolved. I realized that I was not allowing God to use me to speak His truth into the lives of the people He had placed around me. I was content with everyone just getting along instead of growing more like Christ. Now I ask God to show me when to show His mercy and grace by overlooking an offense, and when to show His grace and mercy by speaking His truth in love. It has given me a great freedom to be who I am and be used by God.
4 people found this helpful
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The PeaceMaker

This book is the standard for resolving personal conflict in a biblical manner. This book has assisted me personally in various levels of relational conflicts from home to church.
3 people found this helpful
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Essential for every pastor

A veteran pastor recommended this to me. It kept me from being fired as a pastor.
3 people found this helpful
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Corporate and Individual Peace Making Principles

Ken Sande has spent a life time studying, teaching, and applying biblical principles of conflict resolution. His credentials as a lawyer and student of the Bible combine to make him eminently qualify to write this work.

Though the subtitle emphasizes the resolution of personal conflict, "The Peacemaker" and its principles can be used in corporate/church conflict resolution situations, also. With each principle, Sande presents the biblical foundation as well as practical applications.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of "Soul Physicians," "Spiritual Friends," and "Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction."
3 people found this helpful
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A Must-Read on Reconciliation

What's the saddest fact of the Christian life? There are many ways to answer this question. But in this pastor's opinion, one of the saddest is that believers hurt and get hurt by other believers, which results in ended friendships, loveless marriages (if not divorce), bitterness, envy, and gossip.

So what is to be done about this? How can Christians bring healing and reconciliation, and thus help the church to be what it was intended to be, i.e., a body of believers who love each other (John 13:34-35)? Christian pastors, elders, and scholars have written many books on this important subject, and one of the best is "The Peacemaker" by Ken Sande.

His simple thesis is that we should "look at conflict as an opportunity to glorify God, serve others, and grow to be like Christ." Practically speaking, this means doing everything in our power to live at peace with those around us, always remembering that our actions reflect upon our Savior.

Within this context, confrontation is needed when another brother or sister has sinned, and caused hurt to one or more parties. Sande rightly notes that such confrontation must always be done in love, with the sole intent being reconciliation, while following Christ's instructions in Matthew 18:15-18.

But before any confrontation takes place, Sande gently admonishes his readers that they may very well have contributed to the problem at hand, and so must repent of their sins. This includes acknowledging their faults to the conflicting party. Following these steps will go a long way towards restoring broken relationships.

These tasks seem simple enough, and yet most believers to not use them. The reason is simple: they don't know how. Thankfully, Ken Sande has provided a valuable roadmap to help both pastors and laymen to restore and bring healing to broken relationships. For these reasons, I highly recommend "The Peacemaker."
2 people found this helpful
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Practical and Biblical

Soundly biblical, this book is also practical, without using formulas. The section on getting the log out of one's own eye can be truly transforming, if one is willing to honestly and daringly look at one's own sin. This book was so wonderful that I have procured many other items from Peacemaker Ministries, and am enrolled in their training.
2 people found this helpful
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Excellent methods for resolving conflict

This is no sugar coated, be nicety nice, forgiveness book. Although it advocates forgiveness freely, giving specific actions/words on resolving conflict, complete with examples, it also addresses the issue of when the other party is entangled in their own patterns of competetive behaviors and aren't willing to resolve conflict. Excellent biblical references that relate to Christians as well as any other person. If we could all address conflict as this book suggests, we'd surely all be a lot less stressed in our daily lives!
2 people found this helpful
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Four Stars

Good guide to helping resolve conflict.
1 people found this helpful