Restoration in a Circle

Working as a team in this world is very challenging indeed.  We are all very different people with different sets of values, ways of perceiving the world, and ideas on how to change it.  As Christians, we are convinced that what unifies us, despite our cultural and social differences, is bigger than what divides us.  What unifies us is our common confession of Christ as Lord and master of our lives!  For this reason, Paul writes that "in Christ there is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female."  It is not that such distinctions don’t matter—of course they do!  God has created this world with great diversity.  But what matters the most is our unity in Christ.  For this reason, we hosted two visitors from FaithCARE, a Canadian organization that helps communities of faith resolve differences and grow together.  FaithCARE utilizes a small group approach where everyone sits in circle and has a chance to share their observations and feelings about important subjects.  Permission to share is given by use of a “talking piece,” which is a symbolic object that is passed to each group member when they speak.  The other group members listen during that time (until they receive the “talking piece”).  The goal is to develop a sense of community in the group that restores relationships between team members.  Also, the goal of this method is to  encourage team members who often talk too much to listen and team members who talk too little to share.  All of our partner organizations participated with us in this two-and-a-half day training event.  The responses were very positive and people really enjoyed the experience.  It is our prayer that we can develop a deeper sense of community and surmount the obstacles of intercultural teamwork and leverage the advantage of our God-given diversity.