Christians who do not want to end up in court with other Christians can use Christian conciliation clauses in their contracts, to ensure that any dispute goes through mediation and arbitration rather than litigation. This has been the message of Peacemaker Ministries for decades. We’re happy to see that Telios Law is promoting this concept in its excellent new series on “Preventing and Navigating Internal Church Disputes.” In Part VI, “Preventive Measures,” it observes that conciliation agreements are “an under-used tool in churches …. Conciliation agreements help resolve church disputes in a religious context that aims for reconciliation, rather than costly and divisive litigation.”

The Institute for Christian Conciliation has long endorsed a basic Christian conciliation clause that has been upheld in many a court case. It should be the standard dispute resolution clause in any contract to which Christians and churches are parties.