Has your church experienced conflict in church leadership?
Unfortunately, even if you haven't experienced conflict as a church leader, you probably will at some point. The church is made up of imperfect people, and while we are all seeking the Lord, sometimes even differences in personalities or opinions can create tension.
Because of this, it’s wise to prepare for conflict ahead of time. Otherwise, conflict has the potential to disrupt congregational unity and hinder your mission.
We’ve identified some of the key sources of conflict, the impact this can have on your church, and effective conflict resolution methods below. Hopefully, this will help you be equipped when conflict comes your way.
Understanding Sources of Conflict
There are many reasons conflict can occur within the church, but knowing what common triggers are, can help you pinpoint issues ahead of time to prioritize quick resolution. Here are a few key sources of conflict:
- Theological disagreements: These are disagreements regarding beliefs about how to interpret the Bible and how that impacts your view of who God is. A key to focus on is if the issue is primary to salvation, or if it’s a secondary issue (for example, your view on end-times). If it’s not a primary issue, work to know that it’s okay to disagree, but it’s not okay to create disunity.
- Leadership style differences: Another source of conflict is simply differences in leadership styles. It can be hard to work alongside someone who constantly wants to lead in a different style from you. In this case, it could be helpful to use leadership tools and training (for example, the DISC assessment) to learn how you lead and how to work with others who take a different approach.
- Personal relationship strains: Lastly, issues that come from strains in someone’s relationship can impact church dynamics. Again, work to resolve these quickly and directly to avoid making personal issues public issues.
Conflict Management Principles
No matter the source or prevalence of the conflict, knowing conflict management principles can help you to navigate the situation well.
Oftentimes, something as simple as listening to someone can go a long way in mitigating the issue. Here are a few core conflict management principles to know and use:
- Active listening: Take time to truly hear and understand what the other person is saying.
- Empathy: Work to share other people’s feelings. Seek to understand why they’re feeling the way they are.
- Transparency: Be vulnerable and transparent. Share how you’re feeling and context that may help explain why you’re feeling a certain way.
As you model these principles, you may be surprised that other people are more willing to do the same.
Mediation and Reconciliation Practices
Often listening, understanding, and sharing are just the first steps in reconciliation. When conflict is involved in the church, it’s often more widespread and pervasive.
Here are three mediation strategies that are particularly effective in church settings.
- Third-party mediation: it may be helpful to bring in outside sources to help with the reconciliation process. This could be a counselor, conflict management group, or denominational leadership who can step in to provide perspective, guidance, and wisdom to your congregation.
- Prayer meetings focused on reconciliation: ultimately, God is the one who redeems and restores. Take some time as a church to intentionally gather and seek His forgiveness and direction.
- Scriptural guidance sessions: lastly, go to the Word of God to see what He says about reconciliation. It may be helpful to walk through these passages together and have a discussion about how the Bible applies to your situation.
Leadership Roles in Conflict Resolution
Church leaders have unique roles when it comes to conflict resolution. Depending on the situation, the roles may look slightly different, but in general, church leaders should be working together to protect and foster the unity of the church.
Specifically, pastors have a responsibility to teach spiritual truths around forgiveness and reconciliation, and then model these for the congregation. Elders and deacons also have a responsibility to model these, and may be asked to help provide wisdom, counsel, and guidance to those involved.
Equipping church leaders to know their roles in conflict resolution can help your church to be better prepared when it’s needed.
Impact of Unresolved Conflict on Church Community
There’s not much more dangerous than unresolved conflict in the church. It has the power to create bitterness, anger, and disunity leading to hurt and even church splits.
Other effects include:
- Decreased church attendance
- Reduced trust in leadership
- Negative impacts on community outreach efforts
- Church hurt and distrust
- Unhealthy church environments
Because of this, it’s crucial to act quickly and have a conflict resolution strategy in place before it’s actually needed.
Developing a Conflict-Resolution Strategy
As we’ve seen, it’s wise to create a conflict-resolution strategy now. This will help to ensure you’re prepared and confident to deal with conflict when it comes up.
Here are a few key steps to include in your conflict-resolution strategy:
- Identify the issue - who’s involved? Why are they upset? Who has it impacted?
- Set resolution goals - how can you make this right? What does resolution look like in this particular situation?
- Implement action plans - what will you do? What do the parties involved need to do? What does the church need to do?
Next Step
Over and over in Scripture, we see a call for unity within the church, so it’s crucial to be aware of how to handle conflict when it comes up.
Quick resolution can preserve unity and foster reconciliation at all levels within the church. Church leaders need to be aware, be prepared, and be ready to resolve conflict in a way that honors God.
Church software may not be able to resolve conflicts for you, but it can assist in ensuring you’re able to easily send out mass communications, assign tasks to different leaders, and keep track of church members. If you’d like to try a free demo, you can do so by signing up here!
