Conflict Within Church Communities: Applying Biblical Principles

People of faith have an extra resource to guide them successfully through conflict, if they choose to take advantage of it. For Christians, applying biblical principles – love, forgiveness, the “Golden Rule” – can turn a frustrating conflict into a satisfying resolution, and can make the difference between an uneasy truce and a reconciled relationship. The speaker, a lawyer-mediator, has been helping Christians resolve disputes outside of court for three decades and will describe how Christian peacemaking really works.

Anne Bachle Fifer is a mediator, facilitator, arbitrator, and mediation trainer based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her mediation experience includes business, family, and workplace disputes, as well as church-based conflicts integrating Christian principles with the mediation process. She frequently conducts basic and advanced mediation training, and she has long been a mediator, trainer, and Certified Christian Conciliator with Peacemaker Ministries.

Zena Zumeta, internationally known as both a mediator and trainer of mediators. She is president of the Mediation Training & Consultation Institute, Zena Zumeta Mediation Services, and The Collaborative Workplace in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Zena is a lawyer and a former president of the Academy of Family Mediators. She is the recipient of the the Michigan Lifetime Achievement in Mediation Award; the National Education Association/Saturn Corporation Award for Union-Management Collaboration; the John Haynes Distinguished Mediator Award; and the Kumba Award from the National Conference on Minorities in ADR.