St Ethelburga's has found three understandings of reconciliation helpful:

1.    (re)building relationships across divisions resulting from conflict, culture and religion;

2.    discerning the new creation seeking to arise from conflict;

3.    creating a place in which the balance of truth, mercy, justice and peace can be understood and negotiated. This understanding draws on the work of John Paul Lederach who's ideas we've found particularly helpful in developing the way we approach reconciliaton.

Reconciliation involves personal transformation, and requires a spiritual reorientation in which faith and the wisdom of religious traditions can be central.

Christians have a particular "ministry of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5) which sees "God was in Christ reconciling the world to God's self", as the basis of engagement by Christian faith communities in God's reconciling activity in all dimensions of the world's life.

We think reconciliation requires and encompasses change at three levels:

• the personal;
• the interpersonal;
• the social or community;

and that there are skills we can develop to practise reconciliation at each of these.

We are currently writing a Manifesto of Reconciliation that will set out our approach in more depth. Keep an eye out here for more information.