Conference explores healing and reconciliation in the Church
St. Peter and St. Paul’s brings international expert for a weekend of healing and restoration
Ilana Reimer
Special to Spur Ottawa
After nearly 25 years in ministry, Brent Stiller, rector at St. Peter and St. Paul’s Anglican Church, has seen his fair share of disagreements and pain. He knows well the need for reconciliation and forgiveness. So, this summer, he decided to host a conference on the topic.
“It’s for everyone,” says Stiller. “It’s for those who feel they have it all together, it’s for those who are at the end of their rope. It’s for those who are fed up, it’s for those who are on the edge of wanting to toss in the towel on their marriages, families, or even in their involvement of with a local church. It’s for everyone in the midst of the experience of human living.”
Making All Things New, which will run from July 6 to 8, explores the different ways Christians can be resources for renewal and healing within their churches. The event features Russ Parker, a healing and reconciliation expert from the United Kingdom. Having already invited Parker to speak twice in his previous parish, Stiller is eager to welcome him again.
“The Christian faith says there is always hope of walking in newness of life.”
“He wants simply to point others to the person of Jesus and get out of the way in doing so,” says Stiller.
Parker is the director of 2Restore: Healing Church Wounds. He believes that healing and reconciliation are crucial to the message of the gospel.
“At the very heart of the Christian faith we have the example of Jesus Christ suffering on the cross for our sins,” he says. “The Christian faith says there is always hope of walking in newness of life.”
He defines healing as when Jesus meets a person at their point of need—whether that be a broken relationship, emotional hurts, or a physical or mental issue. Reconciliation is taking that next step of restoring a wrecked relationship or learning to live well with relationships that cannot be healed.
“This way of working often becomes the springboard to move on and renew the church.”
Parker says he first saw God’s healing power while asking Jesus to heal a woman who suffered from an anxiety disorder, called agoraphobia. She was oppressed by fear and unable to walk further than her garden gate, but God completely freed her and she went on to become the mayor of her city.
Parker began a journey of desiring reconciliation after he discovered that despite his own prejudices towards Catholics, their faith experiences were not actually that different from his own.
Today, he meets with churches and teaches them to take ownership of their past story, celebrate what is good, and confess what is bad and in need of healing.
“This way of working often becomes the springboard to move on and renew the church to be the church God has called it to be,” says Parker.
He hopes the conference will encourage people to love their churches as Jesus does and to become agents for change in their faith communities.
For more information, visit St. Peter and St. Paul’s.
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