One of the mysteries of our faith is that some of the most difficult, painful and damaging conflicts between people take place in church settings. Likely almost all of us know of congregation-based disputes that have left people hurt and embittered - perhaps even questioning the faith itself.
In August, 2007, Shalem pulled together at a retreat some of Ontario's best restorative justice practitioners and interested denominational leaders, representing six denominations (Anglican, Lutheran, Mennonite, United Church, Catholic, Christian Reformed). The purpose was to see if the best of restorative justice and conflict transformation practices (used in peacebuilding) could be married to create a body of practice that a pool of practitioners could use to respond to church-based conflicts across a variety of denominations. Our conclusion: the concept has real merit. Since then a Steering Group from that retreat has met, has developed (and continues to develop) a church-focused service, and has already worked with a number of churches.
The outcome is FaithCARE (Communities Affirming Restorative Experiences). FaithCARE seeks to help churches transform conflict and become restorative communities. Our goal is to assist churches to become restorative culture, conflict-friendly communities.
To find out more, please feel free to read our FaithCARE brochure. Download "Building Restorative Faith Communities", the Powerpoint of a workshop given about FaithCARE on October 24, 2008 by Bruce Schenk and Mark Vander Vennen at the Institute for Restorative Practices' Annual International Conference held in Toronto.
If you are interested in exploring FaithCARE services on behalf of your church, please contact Shalem's Executive Director Mark Vander Vennen by email or at 1-866-347-0041. If you are a restorative justice practitioner and are interested in joining our FaithCARE pool of practitioners, he would love to hear from you.
Finally, FaithCARE members give frequent workshops on restorative practice and conflict transformation. If you are interested in a workshop in your community, please contact Mark Vander Vennen.
The members of the FaithCARE Steering Group are:
Mark Yantzi
Judah Oudshoorn
Anne Martin
Dorothy Vaandering
Stan Baker
Bruce Schenk
Judy Cook
Mark Vander Vennen
Consider this reflection from M. Scott Peck:
How strange that we should ordinarily feel compelled to hide our wounds when we
are all wounded! Community requires the ability to expose our wounds and
weaknesses to our fellow creatures. It also requires the ability to be affected by the
wounds of others...But even more important is the love that arises among us when we
share, both ways, our woundedness.