2026 CLS National Conference

Most American churches know little about risk management and are easily exposed to legal threats when carrying out traditional pastoral care. Like Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, attorneys are viewed as possessing unique training, wisdom and experience, which enables them to serve as highly credible advisors to churches as they navigate relational and spiritual issues that may expose them to legal liability. This workshop will introduce attorneys to model resources they can use to equip churches to gain informed consent to biblical and legally prudent policies on counseling, confidentiality, church discipline, the “clergy-penitent privilege,” how to share pastoral information with a congregation, neighboring churches or civil authorities, and processes for resolving conflict through peacemaking and faith-based alternative dispute resolution, aka, Christian conciliation.

Ken Sande is the founder of Peacemaker Ministries and RW360. Trained as an engineer, lawyer and mediator, Ken has conciliated hundreds of family, business, church and legal conflicts. He is the author of several books, including The Peacemaker, which have sold over 700,000 copies in twenty languages. He teaches internationally on biblical peacemaking, Christian conciliation and relational wisdom, which is an enhanced form of emotional intelligence. These resources are being used in churches, law firms, businesses, schools and military bases around the world. Ken is a Certified Emotional Intelligence Instructor with TalentSmartEQ and a Certified Relational Wisdom Conciliator, Coach and Instructor. He has served as a church elder, an Editorial Advisor for Christianity Today, and as a member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of the Montana Bar Association.

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