A Place for Hope

A Place for Hope is an initiative to transform people’s lives through the way we act and behave in managing and  resolving our differences in society. It seeks to address the hurt of the Church’s internal conflict. Beyond this, it aspires to the dream that the Church will once again be a peacemaker and a healer in a broken world. It was set up by the Ministries Council as an ecumenical project and is one of the projects being supported by the Guild until 2012.

The first aim of the initiative is to provide churches with a team of Trained Mediators who can help congregations and presbyteries deal more effectively with disputes that might otherwise result in the breakdown of congregational life.

Mediation is a tried and tested method of handling our differences in conflicts. It has developed over the last 25 years in many contexts from family disputes to neighbourhood conflicts to the workplace and commercial settings. Mediators trained in the skills associated with healing and reconciliation enable those in conflict to understand and recognise their differences and enable them to make choices that reflect their needs and interests.

A Place for Hope will reach far beyond addressing the hurt of the church’s internal conflicts. Communities scarred by Scotland’s sectarian divide, neighbourhoods struggling to live with racial division and families torn apart by violent and aggressive behaviour can all be helped to behave differently if A Place for Hope can be established as a real presence in Scotland.

“… A church where there is no conflict has little relevance to our society.  A church that has found a way to handle conflict creatively will be good news to all around it and in it. … The truth remains, that there is a longing to see relationships work, to see the truth of God’s call to love being practised. Conflicts in the church can seem such a distraction from getting on with the real work; but this is the real work. When people come near such a community they will instinctively know how real the relationships are.” Robert Warren

Below you can read the latest updates on this initiative and download resources and information, which are updated regularly.

For further information, see below.

Latest news

Download our newsletter which has the latest information about A Place for Hope

Right Rev John Christie

The Moderator at the Scottish Parliament

The Right Rev John Christie presented Time for Reflection to the Scottish parliament in January, where he spoke of his support for A Place for Hope as a new way of doing things. You can read his full address below.

Earlier news

You can also catch up with our earlier newsletters below:

Resources and information

Hymns for mediation

  • Ch4 528 - Make Me a Channel of your Peace
  • Ch4 659 - Put Peace into Each Other’s Hands like a candle hold it …
  • Ch4 706 - For the Healing of the Nations
  • Ch3 504 - O God of love, O King of peace (not in Ch4 unfortunately)

Weblinks for interest

For further information

You can contact the team below:

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