Peacemaking in Our Parishes

Rick Marrs recently wrote a piece for the Rural and Small Town Mission program of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. LCMS Rural and Small Town Mission “supports and encourages rural and small-town congregations in engaging their communities and growing together in Christ through Word and Sacrament.” Rick has been long been active with Peacemakers ministries, and brings some of that experience to bear in this essay. The essay, published in the April, 2013 newsletter, is available here.

Here’s a sample: “When we Christians find ourselves in conflict with others, it is often over something significant. In church it may be whether or not to continue funding a particular ministry as stewardship revenues decline, a harsh snub by someone in another family or a business deal that has gone sour with a fellow member. Yet we are called by our Lord Jesus to love everyone, even those we are in conflict with.”