Central Plains Mennonite Conference
  • Home
    • About Us
    • Central Plains Structure
    • Staff >
      • Executive Conference Minister
      • Ministerial Leadership
      • Formation Minister
      • Hispanic Ministries
    • Map of Conference
    • Congregations >
      • Illinois
      • Iowa
      • Minnesota
      • Montana
      • Nebraska
      • South Dakota
      • Wisconsin
    • Board
    • Committees >
      • Christian Formation
      • Outreach and Service >
        • Church Planting
        • Peace and Justice Task Group
        • Practicing Offering and Receiving Hospitality
      • Pastoral Leadership
    • Partners in Mission >
      • Agape Peace Center
      • Philip Friesen
    • Camps & Schools
    • Who are the Mennonites?
  • CPMC at Work
    • MC USA Delegate Resources
    • Publications >
      • Scattered Seeds
      • The Sower
    • Events >
      • Annual Meeting 2022
      • Healthy Boundaries Training
      • Regional Meetings 2022 >
        • Regional Meeting Resources
    • CPMC Covenant
    • New Ministries Fund >
      • Reports of Past Grant Recipients
    • Counsel on variance
  • Congregational Leaders
    • Pastors
    • Elders & Deacons
    • Church Council
    • Support for Conflict >
      • Facilitation Services and Donations
    • Pastor Openings
  • Mission Leaders
    • Racism webinar videos
    • Ecuador/Venezuela Partnership >
      • Story of the Ecuador Partnership
      • Personnel and Partnership Members
      • Quito Property Fund
    • Church Planting >
      • Developing Congregations
    • Travel Like Dave
    • Missional Discipleship Initiative
    • Islam and the Gospel
  • Formation Leaders
    • Formation in Worship
    • Formation Resource Library
    • Children and Families >
      • Faith at Home
      • Curriculum for Children
      • Shine
      • Resources for Parents
      • Protecting Children
    • Youth >
      • Youth Sponsors
      • Youth Curriculum
      • Youth SS Teachers
      • Mentor Coordinator
      • CO Resources
      • Helpful sites for YM
    • Adults >
      • Adult Faith at Home
      • Adult Curriculum
      • Teaching resources
      • Adult Spirituality
    • Shalom Readers >
      • Book List
      • Shalom Readers Adult List
    • Curriculum Evaluation Tool
  • Resources
    • Anti Racism Resources
    • Bible study Webinars >
      • Bible Study Webinars 2016
      • Bible Study Webinars 2017
    • Conference Documents
    • Christian Discernment
    • En Espanol
    • Immigration
    • Mennonite Links
    • Spiritual Deliverance
  • Contact Us
    • Contact form
    • Church contact info form
    • Donate
    • COVID Relief
    • Discerning Future Leaders
    • Sunday Speaking Information Sheet

Congregational Leaders:
Support for Conflict

Conflict Management Support Team


​The Conflict Management Support Team (CMST) serves Central Plains Mennonite Conference congregations to help people address conflicts and harms in healthy, biblically-informed ways. Services range from resources and workshops on communication skills for conflict transformation to facilitation work for requested interventions.

To strengthen this work CMST is inviting members of Central Plains churches to consider three different levels of participation:
  1. Join our team as an active Committee Member (Requires some background in resolution work; includes a monthly online team meeting)
  2. Join as an Associate Member to assist in workshops or facilitation work in your region or state (Requires a sense of gifting in guiding hard conversations)
  3. Join as a Facilitator-in-Training to provide low-level dialogue supports in your own church (Next fall we hope to have an initial facilitation training)  

We ask every church to prayerfully enter into this request for new partners and to collectively discern who might be affirmed by congregations to join our work.  Please contact Susan Janzen to learn about next steps or to get more information. 
Take the Conflict Management Support Team Survey
Workshops and Trainings for Congregations

Resources and Articles for Congregations


Facilitation Services and Donations

The Power of Being Heard
by Ted Lewis

Finding Our Way Through Conflict to Reconciliation
by Tim Detweiler

The Mediator’s Perspective
by Lois Janzen Preheim
Contact Us: Susan Janzen
​susanjanzen@centralplainsmc.org

Introducing the team

Picture
​Charity Brubaker lives and works on a farm in rural Marion, South Dakota.  She earned her B.A. in Social Work from Goshen College in 2004, and has worked intermittently since then facilitating mediations with juveniles and adults in the criminal justice system through the Victim Offender Reconciliation Program in Elkhart, IN and with Restore, Inc. in Sioux Falls, SD.  She attends Salem-Zion Mennonite Church outside of Freeman, South Dakota.
Picture
Ted Lewis (Duluth, MN) is a Restorative Justice consultant and trainer with the Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking, University of Minnesota. Since the mid-90's, he has mediated cases in both criminal and civil realms. Since the mid-90's he has mediated cases in both criminal and civil realms. Starting in 2004, Ted provided workshops and reconciliation services for churches in the Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference, and now does the same in the
Midwest. Along with writing articles for Anabaptist World on conflict and communication themes, Ted manages the Restorative Church website.

Picture
Lon Marshall is a licensed marriage and family therapist. He works in private practice and is the founder and owner of Cornerstone Brief Therapy in the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City corridor. He has worked in critical incident debriefing, conflict resolution, counseling and therapy in many contexts for 25 years. He attends West Union Mennonite Church in Parnell, Iowa. 
Picture
​Sharon Waltner farms with her husband and daughter. In addition, she works part time with the Avera Healthcare System in leadership training and facilitates mediations/interventions. She has taken multiple mediation courses with the Lombard Peace Center and KIPCOR.
Picture
Picture
Margie Mejia-Caraballo lives in Rock island, Illinois. She serves as associate pastor at Templo Alabanza in Moline. Margie is a government employee in Iowa and has 18 years of social work experience.
Susan Janzen is the Conference Minister for Ministerial Leadership. Susan works alongside the Conflict Management Support Team. 
Office Manager: P.O. Box 101, Freeman, SD 57029  office@centralplainsmc.org  phone: 605-929-3325
Ministry Staff Office: P.O. Box 352, Kalona, IA 52247
  • Home
    • About Us
    • Central Plains Structure
    • Staff >
      • Executive Conference Minister
      • Ministerial Leadership
      • Formation Minister
      • Hispanic Ministries
    • Map of Conference
    • Congregations >
      • Illinois
      • Iowa
      • Minnesota
      • Montana
      • Nebraska
      • South Dakota
      • Wisconsin
    • Board
    • Committees >
      • Christian Formation
      • Outreach and Service >
        • Church Planting
        • Peace and Justice Task Group
        • Practicing Offering and Receiving Hospitality
      • Pastoral Leadership
    • Partners in Mission >
      • Agape Peace Center
      • Philip Friesen
    • Camps & Schools
    • Who are the Mennonites?
  • CPMC at Work
    • MC USA Delegate Resources
    • Publications >
      • Scattered Seeds
      • The Sower
    • Events >
      • Annual Meeting 2022
      • Healthy Boundaries Training
      • Regional Meetings 2022 >
        • Regional Meeting Resources
    • CPMC Covenant
    • New Ministries Fund >
      • Reports of Past Grant Recipients
    • Counsel on variance
  • Congregational Leaders
    • Pastors
    • Elders & Deacons
    • Church Council
    • Support for Conflict >
      • Facilitation Services and Donations
    • Pastor Openings
  • Mission Leaders
    • Racism webinar videos
    • Ecuador/Venezuela Partnership >
      • Story of the Ecuador Partnership
      • Personnel and Partnership Members
      • Quito Property Fund
    • Church Planting >
      • Developing Congregations
    • Travel Like Dave
    • Missional Discipleship Initiative
    • Islam and the Gospel
  • Formation Leaders
    • Formation in Worship
    • Formation Resource Library
    • Children and Families >
      • Faith at Home
      • Curriculum for Children
      • Shine
      • Resources for Parents
      • Protecting Children
    • Youth >
      • Youth Sponsors
      • Youth Curriculum
      • Youth SS Teachers
      • Mentor Coordinator
      • CO Resources
      • Helpful sites for YM
    • Adults >
      • Adult Faith at Home
      • Adult Curriculum
      • Teaching resources
      • Adult Spirituality
    • Shalom Readers >
      • Book List
      • Shalom Readers Adult List
    • Curriculum Evaluation Tool
  • Resources
    • Anti Racism Resources
    • Bible study Webinars >
      • Bible Study Webinars 2016
      • Bible Study Webinars 2017
    • Conference Documents
    • Christian Discernment
    • En Espanol
    • Immigration
    • Mennonite Links
    • Spiritual Deliverance
  • Contact Us
    • Contact form
    • Church contact info form
    • Donate
    • COVID Relief
    • Discerning Future Leaders
    • Sunday Speaking Information Sheet