The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict by Ken Sande

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Peacemaker by Ken Sande 298 pages
I can hardly recommend that book highly enough. It is an outstanding summary of what God’s Word says on the topic of peacemaking in relationships, combined with practical, real-life examples of what the principles look like in action. Years ago I wrote a book titled Forgiveness and Reconciliation, and when we ran out of copies, I started working on updating the book. But after reading The Peacemaker, I’ve decided to scrap that project because there’s no need for it. I don’t think I could say it any better than Sande has in this book. I would love it if every person in our church read this book. If you are looking for a book to go through with your small group, this is an excellent choice. It would really be a good book for a men’s group to go through, so the men cannot only be peacemakers in this church and in their own marriages, but they can teach their children the principles of peacemaking.
One especially helpful portion is Sande’s “4 G’s” of peacemaking:
1. Glorify God (make sure all your responses are designed not for your comfort or revenge, but to honor God)
2. Get the log out of your own eye.
3. Gently restore – Gal.6:1.
4. Go and be reconciled.
And there is a very helpful checklist in the appendix of that book for how to do each one of those. There is also an appendix titled “Cultivating a Culture of Peace in Your Church.”