#14: Practical Skills for Resolving Conflict- Ken Sande and Rich Douglass

Conflict is an unavoidable part of life and ministry, but it doesn’t have to derail relationships or teams. In this episode, we sit down with Ken Sande, author of The Peacemaker, and Rich Douglass to explore practical skills for resolving conflict—especially in the high-stakes environment of missions.

With 50% of missionaries leaving the field during their first term—many due to preventable team conflict—learning to navigate disagreements biblically and effectively is essential. Ken and Rich share proven principles that help missionaries and leaders become true peacemakers, so they can focus on gospel ministry without unnecessary distractions.

In This Episode, We Cover:
✅ Why The Peacemaker has impacted over 500,000 readers worldwide
✅ The Four G’s of Peacemaking—a biblical framework for conflict resolution
✅ Why conflict is an opportunity rather than an obstacle
✅ The Slippery Slope of Conflict—how we tend to respond to disagreements
✅ The difference between personal issues vs. material issues in conflict
✅ Key steps to resolving personal issues (The 7 A’s of Confession & 4 Promises of Forgiveness)
✅ How the PAUSE Principle provides a roadmap for navigating conflict
✅ What to do when others refuse to reconcile
✅ Relational Wisdom 3.0 & Relational Peacemaking—online courses to strengthen conflict resolution skills

Ken Sande is the founder of Peacemaker Ministries and RW360. Trained as an engineer, lawyer, and mediator, Ken has conciliated hundreds of family, business, church, and legal conflicts. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including The Peacemaker, which has sold over 500,000 copies in twenty languages. He teaches internationally on biblical peacemaking, Christian conciliation, and relational wisdom, which is an enhanced form of emotional intelligence that helps people “get upstream of conflict” by improving their ability to read and manage emotions in themselves and others. These resources are being used to strengthen relationships, promote teamwork and reduce and resolve conflict in churches, families, businesses, schools and military bases around the world. Ken is a Certified Emotional Intelligence Instructor with TalentSmartEQ and a Certified Relational Wisdom Conciliator, Coach, and Instructor. He has served as a church elder, an Editorial Advisor for Christianity Today, a Certified Professional Engineer and as a member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of the Montana Bar Association.

Rich Douglass is an experienced leader of multinational Christian and secular organizations offering expertise in developing successful growth strategies, training both team leaders and individual representatives and creating dynamic events and environments that engage. Rich and his wife both served in the Air Force. After retiring from the Air Force they served as missionaries in Kenya and Palau (Palow) and have lived in Japan, Germany, France, and Italy.

In addition to pastoral assignments, Rich was the South Carolina FCA Endurance Coordinator while Donna served on the National Leadership Board. During their time with FCA-E, they had the chance to develop and teach evangelism to Christian Athletes nationwide. Rich now feels very privileged to serve on staff with RW 360 and looks forward to what the Lord is going to do in the years to come!

Show notes and links:

https://www.kylefarran.com/missionslife/14-practical-skills-for-resolving-conflict-ken-sande-and-rich-douglass

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