The Peace Making Church by Curtis Heffelfinger

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The Peacemaking Church: 8 Biblical Keys to Resolve Conflict and Preserve Unity

8 Biblical Keys to Resolve Conflict and Preserve Unity

"Preserving unity is not just about seeing ourselves in the right light - captive and called as peacemakers - as important as that is. It also has a great deal to do with the way we navigate relationships in the church - redolent with love and grace."

And that is a great theme of this book: relationships, which in reality is what peace making involves. But it's more than just that. Curtis dedicates a chapter to intercepting conflict before it occurs, so dealing with maintaining good relationships rather than waiting until they deteriorate.

He also stresses the virtues that are necessary for being a good peace maker: all humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and eagerness

One thing that I think makes this book really good, actually two things. The first is his emphasis on Scripture. I feel like he uses a lot of Scripture verses to make his points. He's not just pulling ideas from the air. He also uses a lot of other resources and authors to corroborate his points, which actually brings me to the second positive about this book: his honesty. Curtis doesn't profess to know everything about peace making. He is willing to cite other people who have helpful things to share and he is willing to share his own experiences and failings. You almost feel like, in some ways, he is more comfortable sharing his failings than his successes because he doesn't want to act like he has it all together. I found that refreshing.

I will say I'm still not sure what the 8 Biblical keys are that are talked about in the subtitle of the book. I think the book gives you an arsenal of good ideas and Biblical concepts to go out and make peace making a priority, but I didn't feel like the book was a step by step guide to peace making.

I do recommend this book. I especially liked the chapter on how to avoid conflict before it starts because I think that is the best thing to do in every situation, if at all possible.

I received this book from Baker Books and was not required to write a positive review.








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