BILLINGS -- Rich Mattson is retired from his job as a court reporter, but he is by no means a man of leisure.

Mattson, 61, a longtime volunteer with Peacemaker Ministries in Billings, has even incorporated international travel in his work for the Christian nonprofit group. Whether in Montana or far-off Africa, though, he sees the core message of the ministry as the same.

''I really believe that reconciliation-type work is the core of the Gospel,'' Mattson said.

Peacemaker Ministries, founded in Billings in 1982 by attorney Ken Sande, equips Christians and their churches to biblically respond to conflict. Peacemaker provides both training on how to handle conflict and makes available a variety of educational resources. The organization, with a staff of 25 people in Billings, also offers conflict coaching, mediation and arbitration services to resolve church and ministry disputes, lawsuits, family and business conflicts.

Mattson came to the ministry in its earliest stages, as a member of the board. At the time he was a law clerk in U.S. District Court in Billings.

By the early 1980s, he had observed thousands of criminal and civil trials. In that time, he saw a weakness inherent in the legal process.

''We need a court system,'' he said. ''But a court system can only resolve substantive issues; it can never resolve personal issues to get relationships back on track.''

Over the years, Mattson has gone through mediation training and been part of a team in a couple of local conflict-resolution cases. Since Mattson retired in 2000, his passion has centered on Peacemaker Ministries beyond Billings' borders.

He is an initial contact when inquiring e-mails come to the organization from other countries. Mattson also traveled to Los Angeles to speak about peacemaking to a group of Christian-based Korean churches from a layman's perspective.

And he was part of a team of Peacemaker representatives who went to India, Bangladesh and Southeast Asia to present the idea of developing a seminary-level Peacemakers curriculum. The content has been adapted to make it accessible in an African context, Mattson said.

In September he will take the 30-hour prototype course to Uganda.

''As a volunteer I have the opportunity to field-test this at a little Bible college,'' Mattson said. ''This curriculum is very interactive, and my case studies will be indigenous to the people there.''

If cultural aspects can be molded to a particular culture, Mattson said the biblical concepts behind the teachings are universal to all people.

''People tend to think of peacemaking like a tool in a toolbox, and when we have a conflict, we pull it out,'' he said. ''What we're trying to convince pastors is it's really the heart and soul of a ministry.''

What Mattson calls ''vertical reconciliation'' occurs between God and people through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Horizontal reconciliation is what happens between people.

''Reconciliation is the unifying thing that informs all these different areas,'' he said. ''It should inform everything we do.''

Peacemaker Ministries has been working formally in its international work since it established a division focused on it five years ago, said Chip Zimmer, director of International Ministries. Much of the interest has been generated through the ministry's Web site.

Peacemaker resources already have been translated into eight languages, including Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, and once funding is secured, will be made available in Arabic and French. The translations are part of one thrust of Peacemakers, to broadly distribute its books, Bible studies ''and increase our capacity to impact through the Internet, including using distance education,'' Zimmer said.

A second thrust is to develop partnerships with complementary organizations, he said. For instance, Peacemakers has created ties to Advocates International, a networking organization that links 80 to 100 Christian lawyer groups around the globe.

The Billings ministry also has created a partnership with the Oversees Council International, which has a network of 115 seminaries in the non-Western world, including Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

''We've been invited to a course in peacemaking for the seminaries which OCI helps to support,'' Zimmer said. ''The idea is, as these schools bring Peacemakers into their curriculums, then pastors will be going into churches and deal with issues that arise with their people.''

It's a great way to incorporate reconciliation into communities, especially in some very conflicted societies, Zimmer said. One example, he said, is Liberia, where the newly developed curriculum will be tried out.

''Liberia is coming out of an incredibly difficult period of 20 to 25 years with a new leader who is putting the society back together,'' Zimmer said. ''So it's a wonderful time to work with the seminary there. Hopefully it will be a real resource to pastors there.''

Zimmer agreed with Mattson that a key to exporting Peacemakers teachings to other countries is clothing universal biblical concepts in each country's individual identity.

''What we're trying to do is draw from their experience,'' Zimmer said. ''Here's a principle that's pretty basic to Scripture. The question is, how would you apply it in a Liberian context?''

He is looking forward to getting input from Mattson when he makes one of the first trips to try out the course, in Uganda.

''We think it's a solid course right now,'' Zimmer said. ''We gave a lot of thought into developing it, and now we need input that comes from teaching it on-site.''

Integrating a similar curriculum into U.S. seminaries has been a bit more difficult, Zimmer said, because most seminaries follow a set curriculum. There has been resistance to pre-empting a key course for another one.

But Zimmer is excited that Peacemaker Ministries is working with respected Dallas Theological Seminary to create a doctor of ministry degree in peacemaking. In that way, peacemaking concepts may some day filter into additional communities through trained pastors and other seminaries by professors educated in its theory and application.

The ministry also is working with a consortium of seminaries in the Philippines that would like to offer a similar degree.

''All of this has a fairly long-term significance,'' Zimmer said. ''In the short term, it will take some time to get it off the ground.''

In the meantime, Mattson, the longtime volunteer, will continue his work as an ambassador for Peacemaker Ministries to as many countries as he can get to.

''I'm very thankful I have the health and flexibility for those opportunities,'' Mattson said. ''It's just so interesting to develop relationships beyond my neighborhood.''