Episode 9: The Benefits of Mediation and Peacemaking (with Josh Gerber)

As a pastor, church leader, and in your biblical counseling, you meet with people every week who are hurting and confused. In this episode, we discuss an aspect of biblical soul care that can be difficult if you are not equipped and can burden your soul greatly – mediation.

Mediation has some similarities to biblical counseling, but there are also some key differences in how it is executed and its purpose. Joining to help explain more about mediation and its benefits in biblical counseling is Josh Gerber.

Josh is not only the Associate Pastor of Care and Discipleship at New Castle Bible Church in Mackinaw, IL, but he is an expert in both biblical soul care and reconciliation.

Resources:

• New Castle Bible Church
• (BOOK) The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict
• (BOOK) Pursuing Peace: A Christian Guide to Handling Our Conflicts
• ACBC Reconciliation Specialization
• First Baptist Church Jacksonville, Florida the School of Mediation
• Institute for Christian Conciliation
• Learn more about our 5-Project Biblical Counseling Blueprint Model™
• Explore the rest of our website – bcmnational.org

Key Takeaways

1. Conflict is everywhere. The reality is that you will encounter conflict in your church and even in your personal life. It is unavoidable. While you can’t avoid conflict, you can prepare to handle it in a biblical and beneficial way.
2. God loves peace. We see in many places in Scripture where God pursues peace with His people and desires for us to have peace with one another. He is even referred to as the “God of peace” in Romans 16:20.
3. Mediation focuses on issues that divide. The focus of mediation is not on the heart and sin patterns behind the issue but rather on the issue itself. It’s an important tool because it can help remove those issues and let you address people’s hearts. By removing and resolving issues, you can also give people hope.

Meet Josh

Josh Gerber is the Associate Pastor of Care and Discipleship at New Castle Bible Church in Mackinaw, IL. He holds a Master of Divinity from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, is a Doctor of Educational Ministry student in Biblical Counseling, and has ACBC certification. Josh lives in Tremont with his wife, Kelli, and their four children.