THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH ENGAGING CONFLICT WELL

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THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH ENGAGING CONFLICT
WELL Report on the 2000-2004 Quadrennium
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OUR MISSION

• JUSTPEACE Center for Mediation and Conflict
  Transformation is a mission of The United
  Methodist Church to engage conflict
  constructively in ways that strive for justice,
  reconciliation, resource preservation and
  restoration of community in and through The
  United Methodist Church and with the Church
  universal to the world in which we live.

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The Story of Our Creation
In its report to the Council at the General
Council on Finance and Administrations Annual
Meeting in November 1999, the design and
implementation task force established by the
Council reported At the May 1999 mid-year
meeting, GCFA approved in concept the birth of a
United Methodist center for conflict
transformation. The vision for the center was to
offer the Church new ways of resolving the many
conflicts faced by the various agencies,
organizations and persons in the denomination.
This vision supports GCFAs Disciplinary
obligation to protect the financial and legal
interests of the denomination and facilitate
administration in such a way that the overall
mission of the Church is advanced. As is often
the case, timing can be so important. At the
same time that the vision for this center was
being discussed internally and with the Council
of Bishops, serious negotiations were underway
for the Pacific Homes repayment. GCFA at the May
meeting approved of a plan to fund the center
with a portion of these monies, which had been
loaned by GCFA a number of years ago to help
resolve one of the largest United Methodist
conflicts in the history of the Church. At its
Fall meeting, the task force provided for the
Council the mission statement of the Center for
the Councils approval, along with its principles
and values. These were later adopted, with minor
changes made by the members of the Centers
board, who were elected by GCFA..
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The task force also provided to the Council for
its approval a recommendation for the name of the
Center, JUSTPEACE Center for Mediation and
Conflict Transformation. The task force
reported One of the task force members, Dr.
John Paul Lederach (Professor of sociology and
conflict studies in the Conflict Transformation
Program at the Eastern Mennonite University, USA
director of this program and the Institute for
Peacebuilding from their founding in 1993 until
mid-1997), has written that he hopes in the year
2050 the word justpeace will be accepted in
everyday language and appear as an entry in the
Websters Dictionary. The term is a combination
of two key words justice and peace. The task
force believes that this name meets all of its
requirements for a name reflective of hope and
assurance, reflective of the mission statement,
clear and affirming of the centers
aspirations. JUSTPEACE Center for Mediation and
Conflict Transformation was officially
established at the organizing meeting of the
board of directors in Illinois on February 23-24,
2000. From 2000 through January of 2004,
JUSTPEACE maintained its main office in Evanston,
IL. GCFA decided in the fall of 2003 that
JUSTPEACE should be independent of GCFA. The
JUSTPEACE board then developed a petition to the
2004 General Conference proposing that it be an
independent organization if the Church,
accountable to the General Conference, connected
to all the agencies of the Church, and serving
the whole Church. JUSTPEACE was invited in
February 2004 to move its main office to the
United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill in
Washington DC.
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APPRECIATION
JUSTPEACE would not exist without the generous
support of GCFA and GBCS. This support first
came from the GCFA Committee on Legal
Responsibilities, who then received support from
the Board of Directors of GCFA and the Council of
Bishops. The support from GCFA has been more
than financial. Now at the UM Building in
Washington DC, the support of GBCS in making
office space and other services available to
JUSTPEACE is a great help. We are grateful!
A Gift to the Church
These are words that are often heard about the
work of JUSTPEACE. The mandate of GCFA, to
protect the legal, financial and administrative
interests of the Church, continues to undergird
the Centers mission. If we as a Church engage
conflict constructively we will reduce the
adversarial processes and litigiousness of the
Church, reduce the financial and human resources
that are diverted from the mission and ministry
of the Church by adversarial processes, and model
a ministry of administration that is consistent
with our common calling to be a community of
reconciliation and to practice the ministry of
reconciliation.
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Affirmation of the 2004General Conference
On Saturday, April 29, 2004 the Judicial
Administration Committee voted "concurrence" with
the JUSTPEACE petition (Petition 41105 55 votes
for/1 vote against/8 not voting). That
recommendation came to the floor at the very end
of the Monday evening (5/3/04), plenary session
and received overwhelming support (875 votes
for/50 votes against/5 abstentions). Jay Brim, a
member of the JUSTPEACE Board and delegate of the
Southwest Texas Conference, represented us well
on the floor There were a number of
testimonials given to what the organization has
already done in the first four years. We have had
literally hundreds of persons within this hall
who have been touched by the work of JUSTPEACE
already in assisting to reach conflict
transformation through processes that you will
find in Matthew 18 and in Acts 15. It is
possible, brothers and sisters, for us to change
the way we deal with conflict within this church.
And JUSTPEACE is committed to doing that. We ask
your support for this legislation and we promise
you that we are going to do what we can to change
the way people view conflict within the church.
In fact, all of the speeches from the floor were
in favor of our ministry of reconciliation. Jim
Harnish, a delegate from the Florida Annual
Conference, said, "I am wholeheartedly in favor
of this ministry and very grateful to see it find
its place in the church. John Edgar of West
Ohio said, "I think it makes sense that this
organization that is going to try to teach us
better ways of interacting is saying that they
want to be able to begin from a neutral position
when folks dont judge them before theyve begun
by who theyve been tied to. I think its time
for a fresh start, and we could use some help
with JUSTPEACE, so lets give them the space to
do what they want."
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Bishop Larry M. Goodpaster, PresidentJosephine
Harris, Vice PresidentJay Brim, TreasurerRon
Kraybill, SecretaryPhilip Amerson, Stephen
Bryant, Neal Christie,Lois Dauway, Richard
Harrington, Robert Hill, David Hooker, Irene
Howard, Jesse James, Bishop Linda Lee, Joseph
Palmer, Cynthia Sampson, Calvin Sharpe, David
Trickett
STAFF
Thomas W. Porter, Executive DirectorMark Conrad
Mancao, Director of Administration
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ADVISORY BOARD
Michelle Armster, Richard Blackburn, Elise
Boulding,Jayne Seminare Docherty, Alice Frazer
Evans, Robert A. Evans, Eric Galton, Steven
Gonzales,Stephanie A. Hixon, Patrick Keifert,
Kimberlee Kovach, Speed B. Leas, John Paul
Lederach, Daniel Lee, Bishop Donald Ott, Kay
Pranis, Ellen Raider, Gilbert R. Rendle, Cynthia
Sampson, John Savage, Carolyn Schrock-Shenk, John
Stephens, Peter Storey, Bishop Jack Tuell, John
Winn, Bishop Joseph Yeakel, Howard Zehr
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e-mail newsletterpublished in print for the
first 2 years, now by e-mail
14-page guide3,000 copies distributed, also
translated into Korean
wallet cardnearly 2000 cards distributed
Engage Conflict Well
Our first challenge was to bring together the
theory, practice and theology of conflict
transformation. This required extensive research
and testing with a wide audience of experts.
Everything we do flows out of the nine themes
that we developed. These themes have been
refined, as we have worked with them. This gives
all we do a sharp focus.
web resourcesavailable for viewing and download
training materialmanuals, exercises, role plays
articlesin Response, Interpreter, Positive
Approaches to Peacebuilding
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PREPARE YOURSELF FOR CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION   CR
EATE A WELL, NOT A WALL Create in yourself an
openness to conflict as part of Gods creation,
an opportunity for growth and revelation.   ALLOW
THE WELL TO FILL Open your heart and mind to
Gods love, as incarnate in Jesus, reducing your
anxiety and drawing you toward reconciliation
and being a reconciler.   BE WELL PREPARED Be
prepared to listen for understanding, speak from
the heart, use your imagination, and be
forgiving.   BE WELL Accept forgiveness and
healing so that you can be a mediating presence
in the conflict.  
 
 
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  ENGAGE OTHERS IN CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION   CREAT
E A COMMON WELL TOGETHER Together analyze the
conflict and design a collaborative process
where everyone can participate and be
responsible.  SHARE THE WELL Create a relational
covenant that clarifies and affirms how everyone
will be treated in the process.   DRINK DEEPLY
TOGETHER Elicit stories of peak experiences,
grace-filled moments and dreams of a preferred
future.   LET IT FLOW Move from positions to
interests and needs, generating options to reach
consensus. Move from retribution to restoration
healing the harm, affirming accountability and
creating a new relationship. BE WELL
TOGETHER Celebrate each step toward healing and
communion. Be prayerful, persistent and patient.
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bishops
chancellors
Education of the Leadership of Annual Conferences
The design team and our board recognized that
during the first four years of JUSTPEACE we would
need to focus on educating the church about our
work and on beginning to develop a presence in
the Church.
annual conferences
district superintendents
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• At the request of the GCFA Legal Department, we
  led a half-day plenary session for bishops and
  chancellors in April 2001 on conflict
  transformation and restorative justice, including
  a circle of accountability and healing in a
  complaint procedure. We were also invited to
  participate in the planning for the Legal Forum.
• JUSTPEACE was part of a panel at the Legal Forum
  in 2003.
• At the start of the quadrennium, we conducted a
  survey of all the active bishops in regard to the
  resources and needs they have for conflict
  transformation.
• We have worked with individual bishops in a
  variety of settings.
• At the request of the GCFA Legal Department, we
  worked with the Council of Bishops Task Force on
  Fair Process to incorporate restorative justice
  principles and practices in the complaint
  procedures that are now in the Book of
  Discipline. These petitions were all approved
  at the 2004 General Conference. We are working
  with the Legal Department to develop a
  restorative justice workbook.

Bishops and Chancellors
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• In 2001 through 2004, we spoke to all the new
  District Superintendents and Directors of
  Connectional Ministries at their annual
  orientation and training event at the Lake
  Junaluska Assembly.
• In 2002, we worked with the General Board of
  Higher Education and Ministry, Marcia McFee and
  12 District Superintendents to plan a convocation
  of all the District Superintendents for 2003 on
  the theme of Conflict and Communion. We co-led
  this convocation in 2003 and another event for
  seasoned District Superintendents in 2004.
• We trained the Cabinets in several Annual
  Conferences and are scheduled to train others.
• We trained District Superintendents through the
  Bishop Rueben Job Center.

DistrictSuperintendents
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• 7 Annual Conference presentations.
• 1 Training for an Annual Conferences ministers
  and lay people.
• 1 Address to Conference Treasurers and Chairs of
  Finance and Administration at the request of
  GCFA.
• 1 Training for the Southeast Jurisdiction Chapter
  of UM Association of Business Administrators.
• 1 Training for leaders and pastors in the North
  Central Jurisdiction through the Bishop Reuben
  Job Center.
• 5 Trainings for local church groups.
• Presented Hopkins Lectures in Texas in 2003.
• Facilitated two workshops at the 2003 Deacons and
  Diaconal Ministers Convocation, and a 3-day
  training event in 2004.
• 1 Training of key people associated with an
  AnnualConferences Shalom Zone ministry.
• 2 Trainings for youth and young adults.
• 1 Presentation for the 2004 Soul Feast Gathering.
• 2 Workshops for the 2004 Christian Educators
  Fellowship Conference
• 1 Training for a conferences leaders of
  legislative committees on circle process,
  spiritual discernment and consensus
  decision-making.

AnnualConferencesand Others
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GBOD
GBGM
GCFA
GBCS
GBHEM
Education and Partnership with the Leadership of
the General Agencies
We believe that it is critical that we partner in
our work with the agencies of the church.
Agencies have been very supportive and eager to
collaborate.
GCOM
BUMPH
GCCUIC
GCUMM
GCSRW
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General Board of Church andSociety

• We co-sponsored a gathering on The Local Church
  as a Center for Peacebuilding.
• We are working together on the principles and
  practices of restorative justice.
• We were invited to deliver the keynote address at
  their gathering in the South Central Jurisdiction
  in 2003.
• We were invited to train their board of directors
  in 2003 but, as the training conflicted with our
  annual Gathering, we referred them to a member of
  our Advisory Board.
• GBCS was generous to offer us office space in
  2004 and some administrative services.

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General Board of Discipleship

• The General Secretary invited JUSTPEACE to
  address the agencys leadership team and the
  program leaders.
• A variety of their leaders, including those of
  the Upper Room, have worked with us in designing
  our annual Gatherings of our network. The 2003
  Gathering on the Practice of Forgiveness and the
  2004 Gathering on the Spiritual Formation of
  Peacebuilders were co-sponsored with GBOD. GBOD
  will co-sponsor the 2005 Gathering as well.
• We worked together on a Lilly Foundation grant
  proposal through St. Paul School of Theology.

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General Board ofHigher Education andMinistry

• We worked together around the training of
  district superintendents and deacons.
• We worked together to co-sponsor, with Claremont
  School of Theology, a gathering of professors of
  conflict transformation in theological education.
• They have offered scholarships to chaplains,
  deacons and diaconal ministers to participate in
  our annual Gatherings.
• We have presented two workshops at the
  convocation of deacons and diaconal ministers.
• We facilitated a 3-day training for deacons and
  diaconal ministers.
• We worked with Gwen Purushotham on an event for
  seasoned superintendents.

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General Council on Finance andAdministration

• We were established by GCFA to serve the Church.
• We worked closely withGCFA throughout
  thequadrennium on various conflicts in the
  church.
• At the request of GCFA, we worked with bishops
  and chancellors on various occasions.
• We are working with the Legal Department to
  develop a workbook on restorative justice.
• GCFA continues to provide certain administrative
  services to JUSTPEACE.

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General Council on Ministries

• We worked with them on the training of District
  Superintendents and Directors of Connectional
  Ministries throughout the quadrennium.

General Board of Global Ministries

• We have worked together to develop the principles
  and practices of restorative justice in The
  United Methodist Church.

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The United Methodist Publishing House

• We addressed their editorial committee.
• We worked with them to develop a youth version of
  Engage Conflict Well as a free resource on their
  website to help young people talk about Sept. 11
  and the worlds responses.

General Commission on United Methodist Men

• We are beginning to partner with GCUMM around
  restorative justice principles and practices.

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General Commissionon the Status and Role of
Women

• We co-facilitated with Stephanie Hixon circles of
  healing and accountability, a restorative justice
  response, in our complaint procedures.
• We worked with Raponzil Drake on using conflict
  transformation processes in one case.
• Garlinda Burton participated in the 2004
  Gathering and is interested in working with us in
  the future.

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General Commission on Christian Unity and
Interreligious Concerns

• We co-facilitated with Betty Gamble a dialogue
  between conservatives and liberals in an annual
  conference.
• We worked with GCCUIC in facilitating dialogues
  during the 2004 General Conference.

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Network of Practitioners
The ministry of JUSTPEACE is being practiced by
some wonderfully dedicated and competent people
in the Church. Through surveys and word of mouth
we have developed a network of approximately
1,000 people throughout the Church who are
involved in conflict transformation as lay
leaders, clergy, facilitators, mediators,
consultants and other roles. Annually, we have
sponsored a Gathering for this network. We have
now had four such Gatherings. These Gatherings
have been well received and appreciated. We keep
the network connected through e-mails and
newsletters.
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Annual Conference Conflict Transformation Teams

• The ideal is to develop such teams to do both
  intervention and trainings in their annual
  conferences.
• We conducted a survey of the annual conferences.
• We worked with and are working with a variety of
  conferences to establish such teams. We are
  currently working with 25 conferences.
• There are many other conferences that use a
  single mediator or facilitator.
• We developed a manual for creating these teams.
• We conducted five-day training sessions for the
  members of such teams in Lake Junaluska NC, Eagle
  Creek OR, and Fargo ND in 2003.
• By the end of 2004, we will have conducted 4 more
  trainings in Buffalo MN, Charleston WV, San
  Antonio TX, Indianapolis IN and Boston MA.
• We have been invited to do training seminars
  with teams in several conferences.

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matters scheduled for church trials
matters in a supervisory response
Interventions
In the absence of local resources, we have been
facilitating interventions in a variety of
conflicts. We have developed policies for such
interventions. We have an expert panel to assist
the staff.
cases pending in civil courts
local churches in conflict
coaching
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Matters in aSupervisory Response
Three bishops referred to us complaints that they
were handling with a supervisory response. These
matters were successfully resolved.
Matters Scheduled for Church Trials
We co-facilitated with Stephanie Hixon two
successful resolutions in cases referred to us by
two different bishops sitting as presiding
officers. In a third matter we were not
successful in getting both parties together.
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Cases Pending inCivil Courts
One bishop referred such a case to us. We
participated in helping all parties work beyond
the settlement to a sense of healing. One
intervention alone resolved three lawsuits, one
of which had already cost a conference 30,000.
We also resolved a trust clause case where a
local church wanted to leave the denomination and
take the property with them.
Local Churchesin Conflict
We successfully facilitated resolution of a
conflict between two churches. We referred
several church conflicts to members of our expert
panel. They were all successfully resolved.
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Coaching
Coaching leaders in how to deal themselves with a
specific conflict has been one of our primary
efforts. We have done such coaching in various
situations.
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Boston University School of Theology
Claremont School of Theology
Boston Theological Institute
Seminaries
We believe that getting conflict transformation
courses into the curriculum of seminaries and
theological schools is crucial to the future of
our mission. We did a survey of such courses in
the UM seminaries.
Garrett-Evangelical Seminary
St. Paul School of Theology
Iliff School of Theology
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Boston University School of Theology and the
Boston Theological Institute

• Tom Porter led an Institute on Conflict
  Transformation and Restorative Justice for
  faculty of the BTI.
• BUSTh is co-sponsoring a 3-day training event in
  November 2004.
• Tom Porter is co-teaching with Rodney Peterson,
  Executive Director of BTI, a course on conflict
  transformation in the Fall 2004 and Spring 2005
  semesters.
• With Dean Hart of BUSTh, we succeeded in
  receiving a 25,000 grant from the Luce
  Foundation to establish a model program at BUSTh
  that can be replicated at other schools.
  JUSTPEACE will receive 10,000 of the grant.

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St. Paul

• Together with GBOD and St. Paul, we developed a
  proposal to the Lilly Foundation to train
  ministers in Missouri and Kansas. The
  collaboration was excellent. The proposal was
  not funded. Other funding is being sought.

Claremont

• Together with Claremont and GBHEM we sponsored a
  gathering of teachers of conflict transformation
  in theological education. Together we are
  working to develop a model for such work and to
  work with pilot projects in developing the model.
• Tom Porter co-taught with Phil Amerson, President
  of Claremont, a two-week course on conflict
  transformation and peacebuilding. Other leaders
  included Bishops Sprague, Swenson and White.

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Garrett-Evangelical

• We facilitated two training seminars for field
  education site supervisors and a training
  workshop for a group of seminary students.
• We also developed an intern program with the
  seminary.

Iliff

• We facilitated a workshop for the Iliff Institute
  on Engage Conflict Well.

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The Local Church as a Center for Peacebuilding
Our ultimate goal is for local churches to see
themselves as centers for reconciliation with
their own members and in their own communities.
This was a vision expressed by Bishop Don Ott
early in the design process. We have been
working with individual churches. With GBCS, we
brought together interested churches from around
the country to develop the elements of a model
for such churches and pilot projects for this
work. One hundred people participated, the
maximum number allowed. We are in the process of
working with GBCS to support these pilot projects.
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Relational Covenants

• We believe that the development of relational
  covenants is the most important thing we can do
  in churches, cabinets, agencies and conferences
  to prevent destructive conflict in the Church.
• We have developed training materials and written
  an article for Interpreter magazine to help with
  the development of covenants.
• We have worked with two Cabinets on developing
  covenants. The results have been positive for
  the conferences. We are working with one Cabinet
  to develop a case study for other Cabinets.
• We have coached others in how to develop such a
  covenant in Cabinets and in local churches.
• We include relational covenants in all of our
  training sessions.
• We are developing a resource that guides local
  churches and other groups on the development of
  relational covenants.

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Dialogues

• We developed a dialogue between conservatives and
  liberals on the issue of transgendered ministers.
  The group reached consensus. As importantly,
  they feel they have developed ways of dealing
  constructively with such controversial issues in
  the future.
• We have done training sessions in two conferences
  on dialogue.
• We worked with another conference to develop a
  general dialogue between conservative and
  liberals with the GCCUIC.
• We have consulted with other conferences.

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100 Maryland Ave NE, Washington DC 20002 Phone
202-488-5647, Fax [phone] justpeace_at_justpeac
eumc.org www.justpeaceumc.org