Church congregations, like any community, are not immune to conflict.
Have you struggled to address harm in ways that truly restore relations rather than foster resentment?
Have you experienced the pain of watching relationships fracture over misunderstandings?
Have you been on the receiving end of confrontational expressions of differences in opinion?
The challenge for church leaders is to know how to address issues in preventive and proactive ways.
Restorative practice offers a unique transformative approach to overcoming conflict in churches, ensuring wounds are not left unhealed and communities divided. It also is an approach which can be used to engage with our wider local communities through peacebuilding and relationship building.
Revd Jo Williams (Co-Director of Reconciliation, The Blackley Centre), will share with us practical examples of how to have good conversations both inside church congregations and in outward looking work within our local communities. She will equip us with ideas of how to have conversations in restorative ways which will strengthen relationships while addressing issues that occur. She will also point us towards the theory and theology of restorative practice and how this is relevant to those in church ministry.
This event marks the launch of the newly established Churches Restorative Practice Network, which seeks to draw together church leaders and members in the UK who are interested in developing the use of restorative approaches in churches and equipping and supporting church leaders to build the skills needed to bring about healing and reconciliation in their congregations.
This online event will be held on Zoom. You can register on Eventbrite, with variable ticket prices available. Please pay as you are able so that we have the resources to continue to hold these types of events:
£10 (e.g. employed professional/government/academic/large organisation)
£5 (e.g. employed by a small charity)
Free (e.g. student/volunteer/don’t have the resources to pay for a ticket)
