• God in Christ & Christ in You

• Husband and Wife

• Pastor and Deacon

• Parent and Child

• Men and Women

• Charismatic and Fundamentalist

• Believer and Unbeliever

• Black and White

• Jew and Gentile

• Protestant and Catholic

• Serbians and Kosovars

• Physically Challenged and Able-Bodied

• Deaf and Hearing

• Seeing and Blind

• "Haves" and Have-nots"

Key Word: Mandatory

We are all called to be ambassadors for Christ, with some a particular calling as reconcilers.

We are all called to be involved in the ministry of reconciliation, but some are gifted with a special call to be reconcilers.

"Therefore if any man is in Christ he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." II Corinthians 5:17-21

Mandatory

Implications for your church:

Reconciliation will affect every relationship in the church. To have right relationships in your church, you must be reconciled to your pastor, to your church leadership, and to every person in the congregation.

Key questions:

• Are you committed to God's call of reconciliation?
• As far as God's Spirit has shown you, are you in right relationship with every person in your congregation?
• How can you reach beyond racial, cultural and denominational barriers to heed His call?

Key Words: Conflict Resolution

The ministry of reconciliation is based on a foundation of committed relationships that will persevere, ensuring that conflicts are resolved. This results in the maintenance of a reconciled relationship. (Ruth 1:16-17)

Reconciliation is built upon the foundation of committed relationships.

"But Ruth said, 'Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God, my God.'" Ruth 1:16

Key Issues Regarding Relationship:
* Conflict Resolution

Implications for your church:

The men in your church need to demonstrate the love of God in their relationships with one another, which will impact the congregation and potentially overflow to the community.

Key questions:

• What will you do to help your men build committed relationships with one another?
• How can you emphasize the ministry of reconciliation in your men's ministry?
• Who is a man from a different race, culture, or denomination that you could build a relationship with?

Key Word: Purposeful

Purposeful activity destroying all walls of hostility and facilitating a positive relationship. (Ephesians 2:14-15)

Intentionally is the purposeful, positive and planned activity that facilitates reconciliation.

"For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace." Ephesians 2:14-15

Key Issue regarding Intentionality:
* Purposeful

Implications for your church:

Your men's ministry should take an active role in implementing activities that will facilitate reconciliation, both in the church and the community.

Key questions:

• What can your men's ministry do to build relationships in your church and in your community?
• What racial, cultural, and denominational walls do you see in your church?
• What can your men's ministry do to overcome those walls?

Sincerity is the willingness to be vulnerable including self-disclosure of feelings, attitudes, differences and perceptions, with the goal of resolution and building trust.

Key Words: Trust & Transparency

A willingness to take risk through sincerity and transparency which is essential to establish and maintain a foundation of trust. (John 15:15)

Sincerity is the willingness to be vulnerable, including the self-disclosure of feelings, attitudes, differences and perceptions, with the goals of resolution and trust.

"No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you." John 15:15

Key Issues Regarding Sincerity:
* Trust
* Transparency

Implications for your church:

Your church and men's core group need to help create a safe environment where men are willing to become vulnerable (see Male Context in the Local Church).

Key questions:

• What can your men's core group do to promote diverse men's small groups in your church?
• How will you encourage your men to share their feelings and perceptions about one another?
• How can your men's ministry deal with negative perceptions of different races, cultures and denominations?

KEY WORDS: KNOWLEDGE & UNDERSTANDING

The principle of sensitivity recognizes that people are generally ignorant of the dynamics that cause walls of division in any situation. The question: "Help me understand?" is the key to unlocking the door of knowledge and understanding. (Ephesians 4:15-16)

Sensitivity is the intentional acquisition of knowledge in order to relate empathetically to a person of a different race, culture, or denomination.

"But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love." Ephesians 4:15-16

Key Issues Regarding Sensitivity:
*Knowledge
*Understanding

Implications for your church:

Your core group should demonstrate to your men how to learn about other brothers in the community, to enhance your ability to relate with them.

Key questions:

• Once you have begun to build a relationship with a brother from a different background, what will you do to really listen to him?
• As you are listening, do you hear any pain or offense in what your brother shares?
• If he shares his feelings, what will your response be?

Key Word: Cost

Humility demands that we place the interest of others above ourselves. This will occur as we count the cost.

Sacrifice is the willingness to relinquish an established status of position to genuinely adopt a lesser position in order to facilitate a cross-cultural relationship.

"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out of your own personal interest, but also for the interests of others." Philippians 2:3-4

Key Issue Regarding Sacrifice:
* Cost

Implications for your church:

The men in your church need to take the initiative to serve their wives, children, and other brothers in the community (Matthew 20:25 - 28, Romans 14:10 - 13).

Key questions:

• What does sacrifice mean to you? How can you demonstrate it at home?
• In your church?
• In your community?
• What are some ways that you could meet some of your brother's needs?

Key Words: Repentance & Forgiveness

When we take responsibility and a willingness to yield, we create an atmosphere of reconciliation.

Empowerment is the use of repentance and forgiveness to create complete freedom in a cross-cultural relationship.

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich." II Corinthians 8:9

Key Issues Regarding Empowerment:
* Repentance
* Forgiveness

Implications for your church:

Interpersonal barriers will be removed and your men will become free to experience reconciled relationships, through the power of God's Spirit.

Key questions:

• How can you encourage the men in your church to experience the liberating freedom of reconciled relationships, through the power of the Holy Spirit?
• What can your core group do to encourage your men to pray and experience personal brokenness, repentance and forgiveness?

Key Word: Equality

God created diversity and desires unity in diversity.

Interdependence recognizes our differences but realizes that we each offer something that the other person needs, resulting in equality in the relationship.

"For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a man has, not according to what he does not have. For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by the way of equality - at this present time your abundance being a supply for their want, that their abundance also may become a supply for your want, that there may be equality." II Corinthians 8:12-14

Key Issue Regarding Interdependence:
* Equality

Implications for your church:
Your men's core group should seek to discover the gifts, talents and abilities of each man in your men's ministry, in order to meet one another's needs. You also need to rely on other members of the body of Christ in your community, in order to fulfill God's call to reconciliation.

Key questions:

• What are some ways that you and your brother from a different background are unique and complementary?
• How can the two of you work together to encourage others to begin the process of reconciliation?
• How will you discover the gifts and abilities of each man in your men's ministry?
• What are some ways that those gifts can be used in your community to help fulfill God's call to reconciliation?