Dean David Brubaker to give keynote at faith-based conflict transformation conference in Scotland

In October 2019 , Place for Hope and its partners, including the Church of Scotland’s  Glasgow Presbytery team, will host the “Gathering in Glasgow on Conflict and Faith” at the Royal Concert Hall and the Adelaide Place Baptist Church. The three-day event will explore the nature of conflict faced by churches and faith communities, and the ways we can work together in conflict transformation.

Open to anyone interested in faith-based conflict transformation, the event includes plenary talks, practical workshops and opportunities for networking, and aims to:

• Respond to the hunger for reconciliation and peace in churches and communities.
• Develop and sustain the art of conflict transformation, reconciliation and peacebuilding.
• Share and develop knowledge and skills to support reconciliation work.
• Strengthen the unique contribution made to conflict transformation by churches and faith communities.
• Uncover the peace-making skills you already have.

David Brubaker, dean of Eastern Mennonite University’s School of Social Sciences and Professions and associate professor of organisational studies at the university’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, will deliver the keynote address the topic of “waiting.”

“I’ve been privileged to accompany the development of Place for Hope since the founding conference in Aviemore in 2009,” he said in a press release. “The growth in programs offered, people served, and communities impacted has been extraordinary. I’m eager to glimpse what the next decade holds.”

Victoria Mason, part of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Reconciliation Team, will be leading one of the workshops. “Knowing how to transform conflict is crucial for following Jesus in a world that is ever more complex and divided. Ilook forward to being inspired to embrace that challenge with energy, wisdom and love”, she said.

Other key note speakers will include:

• Sarah Hills, Vicar of Holy Island, Honorary Canon for Reconciliation at Inverness Cathedral, and Canon Emeritus of Coventry Cathedral.
• Brendan McAllister, Corrymeela Member, Senior Mediation Advisor with the UN and a Senior Associate of ‘mediatEUr’.
• Ruth Harvey, Director of Place for Hope, a leading Mediation and Conflict Transformation provider amongst church communities in Scotland and beyond.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Place for Hope, a Scottish charity launched in 2009 in response to the need for mediators within faith groups and congregations in Scotland.

Now, a decade on, Place for Hope supports the work of 35 trained and accredited mediators. They work throughout Scotland and the north of England offering coaching, facilitating difficult conversations and training. The aim is to nurture peace and build reconciliation in all church denominations.

The gathering is being hosted in partnership with the Presbytery of Glasgow, Centre for Good Relations, Rose Castle Foundation, Bridge Builders, The Corrymeela Community, St Michael’s House Coventry Cathedral , The Blackley Centre, Scottish Mediation, St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Reconciliation Ministry.