An excerpt from the book Reconciliation 101:  A Handbook for Ministry Leaders. 

The only way reconciliation—whether racial or any other type—will become a priority within a church is if it is viewed as a mark of the gospel.   Oftentimes, churches resist stressing reconciliation, offering up the explanation that they are focused on fulfilling the Great Commission.

My response is that it is impossible to fulfill the Great Commission without fulfilling the first and second greatest commandments, which together are a call to reconciliation.  Reconciling brokenness of all forms in a world dominated by political, economic, and ethnic conflict serves as a witness to the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

To understand reconciliation from a biblical point of view, we must see how it operates throughout Scripture—from the very beginning (Genesis), through the ebb and flow of sin and division, to the end. We must see how reconciliation is God’s idea.

For starters, we can think of the people of the world as one giant family—large, colorful, diverse . . . and dysfunctional! The Bible then depicts a world of smaller, competing families, known as nations. The links that form these families are ethnic cultural groups, whose members share familiar origins and basics of culture such language, values, attitudes and beliefs.

Throughout history as well as today, we see a theme of struggle, discrimination and conflict among these families: one story after another of individuals and cultural groups trying to advance their own interests over others.

If we are not careful, as we follow the biblical story we might mistakenly think that other people are the enemy—“other people” being nonbelievers in God. Yet in reality, we face a powerful spiritual army of evil beings whose goal is to frustrate God’s efforts toward a united, inclusive family:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12).

When we watch the news and see stories of “ethnic cleansing,” or women being sold as sex slaves; or when we look at a history book and remember how the U.S. government allowed the enslavement of people based on their African heritage, we cannot forget that the root of these events are spiritual. Therefore, the primary way to address these and other evil atrocities should be rooted in spiritual practice as well.

When it comes to reconciliation, the first step of the church in a deeply broken world is not strategy but prayer. Joseph Cardinal Bernardin wrote in The Gift of Peace that prayer was “closing the gap between what I am and what God wants of me.” We will not be successful unless we develop a vibrant, strong prayer life to close the gap.

The gap exists because as sinners we are all in some degree of rebellion against God. Psalms 2:1 asks, “Why do the nations conspire, the people plot in vain?” The quick answer is because they are in rebellion. Let’s take a look at the root of the rebellion.

In Genesis 2 we see God’s plan for unity in the Garden of Eden: Relationships were perfect between people and God, between people themselves, and with the environment. It was truly a blessed state of existence.

Actually, the word blessed does not accurately describe what was going on. A better word is a Hebrew one, shalom. Shalom means people living in a situation of completeness in every aspect of their human existence.

Then, the familiar story of Genesis 3 tells of the moment when the whole situation of shalom unraveled, beginning the dysfunctional mess of a family we have today.

In essence, we see barriers go up between Adam and Eve and between both them and God. And along with the barriers come hostility. In Genesis 3:15, God speaks to the evil being (represented by the serpent) who started it all:

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.

This verse foretells how our world will be in a continual conflict between humans and representatives of evil. The battle lines have been formed, and the world from now until Christ’s return will struggle in a messy conflict.

Yet with Christ’s death and resurrection, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, God reveals the power for unity—with God and with each other. God then gave to the church the gift of reconciliation, in reliance upon that power (2 Corinthians 5:18).

In a world where conflict reigns supreme, only God can cause a family reunion of all people. It is God’s initiative and God’s work. The reunited family called the Church then becomes a witness to a world marred by conflict.

The stress of the New Testament is toward a community of people making their presence known by living differently as the people of God (Ephesians 5:1-16; Galatians 3:6-9).  As we do this, the people around us will know where to look for God.

These instructions of how to live the Christian life are not geared toward individuals, but rather toward the community of believers. The concern is with the character of the church, stressing how the people of God should live in a rebellious, conflicted world. This is no small concern, as nothing less than the essence of the gospel is at stake.

In a reunited family, value and significance don’t lie in race, ethnicity, power, wealth, gender or any other attitude found in the rebellious world. In the reunited family called the Church, our values, attitudes and beliefs have been radically restructured through the power of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 3:26-29).