Conflict Management for Church Leaders

While we all wish it weren't so, even churches can and do - and should - experience conflict to a certain degree. Watch this video to learn how your church can optimize the level of conflict it experiences in order to accomplish better results for the Kingdom.

[@kebedeareri7642]

Great presentation..Blessings!

[@kokeboasefadobamo]

Please I want more from you to develop unity or fellowship in the church the way of solving of problems. PDF

[@dagwould]

OK as far as it goes. There are different levels, or types of conflict. I leave aside 'conflict of personalities' that's a maturity issue: grow up. The fundamental real conflicts are, at the deepest level, conflicts of vision (to borrow the title of Sowell's great book), or, with a common vision at a 'high' level, conflict of proximate ends. Or how to get to an agreed end? This can produce conflicts of ways and means.
In churches, there would be groups with different takes on any point of concern, so an open, if possible, group process is usually called for. You will find a ton of advice on 'problem solving' approaches, but they too are usually at the level of the trivial. We need more sophistication than this. We need an exploratory problem-finding/opportunity crystalising approach. The point of concern will raise 'challenges' for differing visions, group or personal objectives, with respect to time-scales/horizons, risk tolerance and degree of satisfaction. Thus these objectives will be constrained within different margins of flexibility between and within the interested parties.
Expressing all these 'edges' around the issue is the first step in a facilitated conference/meeting/conversation/forum (I reserve the word 'workshop' for light engineering and washing machine repair).
As the parties progress they might be invited to express what they think the others' views are and what their margins of flexibility or acceptance are, then work through must haves and must avoids.
If possible, develop a 'ruled out' list and a 'promising' list.
Work to an area of mutual acceptance to examine the opportunities this will creatively produce then work towards options.
Check the options against the 'must-must' boundaries.
If possible trials of preferred options should be planned, then conducted and evaluated by the same group that produced them, with the views of those who experience the trials as 'customers', users, attendees taken very seriously.
I have used this approach in business team conflicts, organisational change/development programs and project development efforts. They work there, so should do so in a church context as well.
The main rule of the process is: no 'hats' (i.e., no rank/priority or seniority between participants). Everyone is equal. The facilitator/convenor is ideally a stranger to all, but at least must not be part of the church in question.
This can usually be done in a day, but can take two days for complex, multi-factor points of concern.

[@dianapalmer1725]

Amen

[@samuelgachoki725]

Great teaching

[@fmarkow]

Thank you Samuel