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At American Business Mediation, Inc., we
trust the Lord Jesus Christ to resolve all disputes between
believers through the local church. In 1 Corinthians
6:1-11, Jesus prohibited believers from taking one another
to court. Instead, He mandated that they appoint a
wise man to resolve those disputes. While I would
never claim to be a wise man, I am sure we can find one who
will help to resolve the disputes between believers along
with professional mediation services. We should always
remember that Jesus called the secular judges people of "no
account" ("") in the church. We should never submit
our disputes between believers to unbelievers. See a
fuller discussion of the reasons we should never be going to
court before unbelievers. Mediation may take many forms and
use many techniques. The process often follows a
similar pattern.
Before the Mediator
Arrives on Site
• Each party to the
conflict may have open and free communication individually with
the mediator. You can request that the content of your
communications be kept confidential, but the fact we have
been communicating may be disclosed.
• Often parties will want to make a presentation
to the other side reflecting their position in the
mediation.
Each party may want to show their presentation first to the
mediator and seek feedback on the presentation. The
goal will be to resolve the conflict and the mediator helps
each side impartially to reach an acceptable resolution.
Mediator on Site
• The mediator will first have a common session
with all parties present. The mediator will make a
brief presentation about the rules of mediation, the
procedures to be followed, and the goal of mediation.
Confidentiality and civility must be encouraged and
maintained at all times.
• The mediator will then invite the
parties to make their own presentations. Some parties
use very sophisticated electronic presentations, and some
merely make a few opening remarks. The goal will be to
communicate your interest in settling the conflict and
finding terms acceptable to each party.
• At this point, separate sessions
may begin, where each party is moved to another private room
and the mediator moves between the rooms. While the
mediator will not provide legal advice, the different
outcomes of settling or going forward with litigation may be
discussed. Furthermore, the parties will have time to craft settlement
options and evaluate them by communicating with the other
side.
• The more the parties honestly
communicate with each other, and try to resolve their
conflicts with compromise, the better the mediation
proceeds.
• If progress towards settlement
ends, then an impasse may be declared and the mediation
stops. Mediation may be rescheduled or concluded.
All communications related to the mediation must remain
confidential.
• If the parties are able to
create a settlement agreement among themselves, then the
parties must reduce their agreement to writing.
Sometimes the parties cannot resolve all their issues at
mediation, but do resolve critical issues that allow them to
work on remaining issues over time. Sometimes, parties bring proposed forms to the mediation that can
be modified according to the agreement of the parties.
Post Mediation
• The mediation concludes with a
written agreement if the parties are able to reach an
agreement. If a lawsuit has been filed, then a written
report of the mediation is filed with the court. If
the parties are unable to reach an agreement, then further
mediation may be scheduled or the parties may seek other
means to resolve their differences. A little time to
consider the options may still lead to a reasonable
settlement.
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