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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Biblical and Practical Help for ALL Churches, October 6, 2006
This review is from: Peacemaking Pastor, The: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Church Conflict (Paperback)
Rev. Dr. Alfred Poirier has written a biblical and practical book that is sure to help all pastors, church leaders, and church members to understand and faithfully live out the gospel of Jesus Christ in both their personal and corporate lives.
This book is actually a storehouse of information! From a systematically biblical approach to conflict resolution (Pastor Poirier is the Chairman of the Board of Peacemaker Ministries and has extensive experience in Christian conciliation), to the important legal risk management issues associated with redemptive and loving church discipline, this book has it all.
If you are looking for an extensive case study on how to handle a repentant sex offender in your community, read this book!
For detailed information on what it looks like for an entire church to be a part of the restorative aspects of church accountability and discipline, this book contains example after example.
If you are wondering if it is even possible for Christians to have authentic, intimate, REAL friendships and relationships that persevere over time ... read this book and be encouraged and helped.
As an attorney, a Certified Christian Conciliator with the Institute for Christian Conciliation, an author ("Peacemaking Women: Biblical Hope for Resolving Conflict", Baker 2005), and a frequent speaker at women's retreats and conferences, I have the privilege of observing "Body Life" (The Bride! The Church!) in contexts across the nation and even around the world. And I can tell you that, beyond a doubt, this book is going to have a profound impact on the ministry of the gospel.
Read it and be blessed!
And thank you, Pastor Poirier, for your labor of both scholarship and love.
Your grateful sheep,
Tara Barthel
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb, detailed, an excellent resource for every pastor, January 11, 2007
This review is from: Peacemaking Pastor, The: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Church Conflict (Paperback)
This book addresses the need for true peace within in the church - and how to achieve that peace. Currently, the church often looks more like the world than the church. Repentance and forgiveness have been replaced by modern psychology. True love has been replaced by a counterfeit. This resource takes us back to the roots of Christianity - Jesus came to die, and through his blood we are reconciled to God so that we might have life everlasting.
Even though the book targets pastors, it is also a very helpful resource for all, as we are all called to be peacemakers in the body of Christ. It builds beautifully on The Peacemaker, by Ken Sande, and gives additional guidance in a new, refreshing way.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This Book Opens the "Toolbox" God has Given for Pastoral Ministry, February 28, 2009
This review is from: Peacemaking Pastor, The: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Church Conflict (Paperback)
Where Ken Sande, in The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict, gives an excellent exposition of the practical steps to resolve conflict as told in the Bible, Kenneth Poirer makes the scripture sing the gospel of reconciliation. Poirer's use of scripture and exegesis is powerful, easy to read, and very important to the hermeneutical principals to which he is speaking. A powerful use of exegetical and hermeneutical understanding leads to the powerful practical theology of peacemaking as the pastoral calling.
Much like Sande, Poirer does not attempt to use scripture to back up his practical theology or creative "new approach" to pastoring; he develops his theology and his thesis around the word of God. Poirer makes it very clear that God's word is a word of reconciliation, beginning with the fall and culminating with the defeat of Satan in the end times, everything from Genesis 3 through Revelation 20 is about conflict and how God brought reconciliation to his people.
Poirer gives example after biblical example of mediation and peacemaking. Abraham, Moses, Paul, Barnabas and Jesus all worked as mediators in their pastoral calling. Abraham and Moses actually mediated with God for His people. Barnabas served as a mediator between Paul and the rest of the apostles! The beauty of this exposition as given by Poirer is that we are shown through Scripture how God himself wants us to relate to one another. No part of the Bible denies that conflict will happen, but the Bible does give practical steps on how to resolve the conflict to the glory of God and as a part of our sanctification in Him.
By the end of Pastor, the reader feels confident to explain the gospel of reconciliation as described in the Bible. Peacemaker is a book that makes the reader understand that he knows how to handle a conflict, where Pastor helps the reader develop an understanding for why Christians are to behave this way. Reading Pastor helps a believer to be "prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks...for a reason for the hope that is in [him]." (1 Peter 3:15)
Peacemaker gives the reader a tool to use in an effort to resolve the conflicts that are a part of life and helps the believer glorify God in all things (1 Corinthians 10:31) while understanding how scripture mandates such an approach to resolving conflict. Pastor helps the reader to understand that peacemaking is not a tool, but it is the whole toolbox! All of scripture is an approach to peacemaking as a part of the ministry of reconciliation that is given to every believer. (II Corinthians 5:18 ) Just as marriage, parenting, business and church life are representative examples pointing everyone to God's glory and Christ's love for his people as he laid down his life, Pastor helps believers to understand that all of those things should be bathed in the gospel of reconciliation that we have been given. (II Corinthians 5:18 ) In this way we can become "sons of God". (Matthew 5:9)
As "ambassadors of Christ" believers must call all people to be reconciled to God. (II Corinthians 5:20; Matthew 28:19) This can be accomplished by understanding that every part of a believer's life must be a part of his ministry of reconciliation. (II Corinthians 5:18 ) Poirer helps makes this gospel of reconciliation clear; so all believers can better perform the ministry of reconciliation to which we have been called as ambassadors of Christ. (II Corinthians 5:18, 20)
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