Reconcile – a Voice Crying in the Wilderness Gets Projected from the Rooftops by Steve Carpenter

Renowned Notre Dame Professor, John Paul Ledrach has been a peacemaker for decades, traveling the globe to such hot spots as Columbia, Northern Ireland, Somalia, Burma and Nepal, acting as a mediator and facilitator between warring factions.

His book Journey Toward Reconciliation, published in 1999, has been significantly revised, updated and reissued as Reconcile – Conflict Transformation for Ordinary Christians.

Not surprisingly, we at MennoMedia, think Reconcile is a powerful book, one that should be read by every Christian. The surprise is that Bill and Lynne Hybels, founding co-pastors of Willow Creek, the fourth largest mega church in the United States, feel the same way. Bill and Lynne wrote the foreword to Reconcile stating, “When we decided to study the art of peacemaking, we heard a single name recommended over and over again: John Paul Lederach. So we began reading Lederach. Continued reading Lederach. Are still reading Lederach. And say to you: read Lederach!”

In the foreword to Reconcile, Bill and Lynne Hybels say, “This book truly has the power to change the world. Marriage breakdown? Read Reconcile. Extended family dispute? Read Reconcile. Neighborhood conflict? Read Reconcile…Countries at war? Honestly, if there were a way to lock up world leaders until they read Reconcile, the world would be a different place.”

We at MennoMedia “seek to engage and shape church and society with resources for living the Christian faith from an Anabaptist perspective.” We are a small publisher with just 24 full time equivalent employees but we are “punching above our weight class” in terms of impact. One of the best demonstrations of that broad reach, going beyond Mennonite circles to those seeking an Anabaptist understanding of faith, is the repackaging and marketing of Reconcile. Our editor Valerie Weaver-Zercher shuffled the chapters in Journey Toward Forgiveness, made other edits and changes, and contacted Bill and Lynn Hybels for the foreword. Lynn had appeared previously in a MennoMedia TV documentary, Waging Peace. Merrill Miller designed a new cover and we relaunched Reconcile.

One surprise was Bill Hybels featuring it in his Global Leadership Summit last fall, mentioning Reconcile five times from the pulpit. These annual events reach far beyond the audience Bill has sitting in front of him. The 2015 Summit reached approximately 220,000 church leaders in 114 countries and 35 languages by video conference. Wow! That is global impact. For a short time, immediately after the summit, Reconcile rose to the top of Amazon’s bestseller list in the category of books about social justice. MennoMedia sold 4,500 copies of Reconcile since its release last fall. We pray this and other MennoMedia resources will continue to not only improve an individual’s skill set but also change the mindset of many Christian leaders who have not yet embraced Christ’s way of peace.

You can see Willow Creek’s video interview with John Paul Lederach here.

To purchase your copy of Reconcile in paperback or electronic version click here.

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