Wouldn’t it be great if everyone in the Church would get along all of the time and you didn’t have to resolve conflict? You might be thinking how much easier that would make your job as a leader! Ideally everyone in the Church should be able to come together “in Christ” truly accepting and loving one another despite our differences. Realistically, though, that’s not going to happen on this side of eternity for at least three reasons:
1) The Church is made up of fallen human beings. Though redeemed, we still have that sin nature that can rear its ugly head when we’re not walking in the Spirit (Gal. 5:13-26).
2) We have an enemy seeking to devour and divide. If we fail to stay alert and self-controlled (1 Pet. 5:8), Satan can gain some ground when we don’t stand our ground clad with the full armor of God (Eph. 6:11-17).
3) Any time you put a diverse group together, as God did in forming the Church (Eph. 2:13-22), we’re going to find a wide variety of opinions, preferences, and styles. We aren’t going to always agree.
God knew conflict would happen in the Church. He already provided the answer to resolve conflict in the way He designed the Body to function.
Help to Resolve Conflict
These two points can help us reconnect in times of conflicts:
- The remembrance of who we are in Christ forms the basis for resolving conflict.
- The reciprocity of Body Life helps resolve conflict.
You’ll find the content on this page as well as some comments on the above two points in the Steering the Church Toward Body Life Leadership Guide.
All Posts about Conflict Management:
- Reason Conflict Management is an Important Skill for Leaders
- Not All Conflict is Bad
- A Litmus Test for Church Conflict
- Body Life Can Prevent Conflict
- Body Life Can Resolve Conflict
- Body Life Takes Responsibility in Conflict
- Conflict Hinders Fulfillment of the Great Commission
- The Right Mindset in Conflict
- The Right Reactions in Conflict
- Power of God Needed to Rise Above in Conflict
- To Rise Above Conflict, Go Back to the Gospel
- To Rise Above Conflict, Pray with the Right Motives
- To Rise Above Conflict, Rely on God’s Grace
- To Rise Above Conflict, Pull on People’s Spiritual Gifts
- To Rise Above Conflict, Follow God’s Word
- To Rise Above Conflict, Remember Who’s the Real Enemy