On October 16-17, 2009, chairpersons from twenty Classis Safe Church Teams met at Calvin College’s Prince Center for a time of learning and networking. This year, the topic of learning was Restorative Justice, and Safe Church Ministry brought Ms. Gail Rice and Mr. Mark Vander Vennen to speak on the topic.

Gail is a former teacher now engaged in prison ministry in Cook County in Chicago. She brought her story of entering a restorative justice practice with the offender who murdered a member of her family. Her memories of the restorative justice event and its lasting impression on her and other family members riveted the audience.

Mark is a therapist and executive director of Shalem Christian Counseling in Hamilton, Ontario. He has worked for several years to develop a restorative justice model for churches in conflict. He is now engaged with others to develop a model that may be useful in circumstances of church leader misconduct.

In addition to sharing her story and showing a powerful video of family members confronting prison inmates on the impact of their crimes, Rice reminded the chairpersons that Restorative Justice is not mediation, not primarily about forgiveness or reconciliation, and not necessarily an alternative to prison. Restorative Justice does not replace the legal system, but focuses on helping the offender understand the harm he or she caused for the purpose of facilitating restoration, which is beneficial to victim and offender.

Vander Vennen’s presentation highlighted the paradigms of justice: retributive justice and restorative justice. The retributive paradigm focuses on the crime, establishing blame, intending to punish, and emphasizing the relationship between an offender and a prosecutor who represents the government. In the restorative justice paradigm, the emphasis is on the violation between two people, focuses on problem-solving and dialogue, desires to repair the injury, and encourages the community’s involvement.

Upon the conclusion of the presentations by both speakers, the Safe Church Team chairpersons discussed at length how restorative justice practices may enhance the work the teams are doing in their respective classes with victims and offenders of abuse.