Lausanne World Pulse – Themed Articles – The Reconciliation Journey to and since the 2004 Lausanne Forum

By Dr. Samuel Barkat

Immediately following this, about thirteen of our colleagues from the Reconciliation Issue Group joined us on the stage, forming clusters of two or three, each with a basin, a towel and a jug of water. The clusters included a Palestinian and an Israeli; a Hutu and a Tutsi; a man and a woman; a black, an Asian and a white; and a Protestant, a Catholic and an Orthodox. Very solemnly and gently, the members of each cluster poured water into the basins and washed each others’ feet. Each of us made eye contact, giving a loving, tender look to the person whose feet we were washing. It was indeed a holy moment.

The audience responded by leaping to their feet. There was thunderous applause and tears were running down many faces. Audience members embraced and many tried to run to the front of the assembly hall to take pictures of what was happening on the stage. This emotional outpouring from the audience expressed their yearning for reconciliation among people whose relationships are torn and broken because of vandalized shalom. My mind quickly turned to how much God yearns for reconciliation among his creation and how he longs for people to be reconciled with him. How great must be the yearning of the God whose mission is reconciliation, and who made provision for this reconciliation through the sacrifice of his son, Jesus Christ!

The Journey since Pattaya

The paper written by the Pattaya Reconciliation Issue Group, “Reconciliation as the Mission of God,” has been translated from English into French and Arabic, and will soon be available in Spanish. It has been distributed widely at conferences and gatherings and has been well received both by students of theology and practitioners.

The participants in our Issue Group left Pattaya committed to accompanying each other on the journey of reconciliation. In April 2005, fifteen members of our Issue Group met at Coventry Cathedral in England. We developed and adopted a membership commitment for the Global Network for Reconciliation (GNR). The mission of the GNR is:

As followers of Jesus Christ, we pursue God’s mission of reconciliation as we embody its vision in our network and inspire the global Christian community to engage a world of brokenness and destructive conflicts.

We agreed on the following shared commitments:

  1. Pray for one another, the Church and the world.
  2. Maintain our biblical vision for reconciliation.
  3. Practice confession and forgiveness in our personal lives, and seek healing.
  4. Build relationships and partnerships, inviting Christians around the world to join us.
  5. Stay in touch and gather to share stories, discern the realities of brokenness, celebrate signs of hope and work together toward reconciliation.
  6. Develop and achieve shared goals.
  7. Contribute and share resources.
  8. Seek the Church’s renewal and help mobilize the Christian community to be partners in God’s reconciling mission.
  9. Advocate and speak prophetically for reconciliation, including engaging church, religious, civic and political leaders.

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Dr. Samuel Barkat is the executive director of the Institute for Collaborative Engagement, which works on issues of organizational and social change and conflict resolutions. He is an international consultant to many colleges and universities, and for-profit and not-for-profit organizations in the US and overseas.