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PROGRAM D-8012

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9). Every Christ-follower has this calling to be peacemakers. It is the path of blessing.

I have pointed out the difference between peacemakers and peacekeepers. Peacekeepers do not want to get into anything that is unpleasant; they have a passive approach to conflict. Peacemakers, on the other hand, are willing to disrupt the peace, if necessary, in order to allow for greater peace to happen; they are not afraid of brave conversations.

Let’s take a hypothetical situation: You manage a group of people in your organization and two of these people don’t like each other. As a result, they don’t work well together, and they are making the work environment unpleasant. Your job—not only as a manager but more importantly as a member of The Jesus Peace Corps—is to help them resolve their issues and bring peace to your workplace. So what do you do?

You could choose to reassign them or try in some way to separate them, but is that what a peacemaker does? I don’t think so. That’s what a peacekeeper would do. Instead, as a peacemaker you want these two employees to find peace with each other—to truly help them personally, as well as solve the problem they are causing. This calls for a brave conversation.

One option might be to bring them in together and confront the problem. Refuse to let them get into any finger-pointing or blame-placing on each other, but simply explain that in order to keep their jobs, they must learn to work together in a pleasant way. You could admonish them to figure it out between them, but the end result must be that they work together in harmony.

Another option might be to have that same brave conversation, and then give them a joint project assignment, insisting they work together on it for the best result.

My husband once had a situation similar to this: two employees disliked each other because of cultural background differences. He finally called them into his office and advised them that they had to work together in a pleasant way, or they would both lose their jobs. This motivated them to work together better. They got to know each other and, as a result, they became friends—they still are to this day! It just took a brave conversation to make it happen.

Is there a brave conversation you need to have with someone? Remember, you are called to be a peacemaker, so pray about it, decide the wisest approach, and do it.