Bob Lupton's Invitation

Dear colleagues on the urban front:
I am eagerly anticipating our gathering in Ireland this September. Reconciliation is a big word with many expressions. And regardless of our ministry context, it is central to our work as Kingdom people. I look forward to listening to lifelong enemies in Belfast talk candidly about reaching across forbidding barbed-wire divides to find true partnership - an intriguing backdrop to explore the anatomy of reconciliation. Vivid, personal stories of atrocities and forgiveness, of racism and bridge-building, shared by front-line practitioners from around the world, promise to be as inspiring as they are instructive. Bring your experience and let's learn together.

Bob Lupton

Reconciliation and the way forward

Reconciliation doesn't come easy. The three R's of repentance, restitution, reconciliation, followed by forgiveness is a long and winding road. Most of us have had a few relationships that made it through the steps of repentance and the initial steps of forgiveness but rarely do we move toward restitution and most certainly we do not get to the place of reconciliation.

Reconciliation implies that everything is new. "Behold all things have become new." God's promise of forgetting our sins and removing our sins "as far as the East is from the West" doesn't seem right somehow. We understand how to say were sorry but we have a harder time trusting our trepassing neighbor again. "I forgive you but I don't trust you and I will never work with you again," is the normal approach to forgiveness in a society that avoids all pain and seeks only comfort at all price.

To find reconciliation as a way of following Christ may mean that many will have to go to the cross without others understanding, without popularity, without everything working out okay, without selling numerous books, without being popular again, without having a happy human ending. Jesus did say, "If you want to be my disciple, you must take up your cross and follow me." Reconciliation is tough stuff. Jon Sharpe

Belfast Reconciliation 07

Dr. John Perkins &
Dr. Bob Lupton will be our international guides as we look at Global Reconciliation issues through the eyes of the Belfast team and the eyes of others from around the world.

September 7-13, 2007
Dublin, Ireland September 7-9
Belfast, Northern Ireland September 10-13

The Belfast Host Team: Gary Mason, Glenn Jordan, Nathan Hamilton, Jack Drennan, and Lynda Gould.

Belfast Reconciliation 07

Belfast, Northern Ireland in September will be the site of the Belfast 07 Reconciliation Consultation. Honorary Chairs, Dr. John Perkins and Dr. Bob Lupton will join the Belfast host team of Gary Mason, Glenn Jordan, Nathan Hamilton, Jack Drennan, and Lynda Gould.