if you are interested in why churches experience significant amounts of conflict. grab a cuppa and check out this video. A little on the long side at 25 minutes but explores the reasons churches are conflict prone and conflict averse at the same time.
I appreciated the opportunity to work with the Arrow Executive Program today in Sydney. Lots of good questions and discussion about conflict and healthy processes to follow. There are links in the section below to some resources and notes I mentioned in the training. This is also available on the Peace Train website
I love visiting South Australia. It was great to meet up with some old friends and to work with the Churches of Christ in establishing conflict competency among pastors and leaders. We looked at a range of areas over Friday night and Saturday. The notes and resources follow:
I always enjoy the days I have the opportunity to work with Arrow Leadership participants. Great to have the day with Group 15 yesterday at the Edmund Rice Centre, Amberley.
Over the last few weeks I have met with the leadership teams of several churches seeking to resolve internal conflicts. Here are some observations from the frontline.
Conflict is particularly common within Elderships, Church Councils, Church Boards and also between Ministers and these senior lay leadership groups. The following is a policy for keeping this conflict healthy and constructive.
The following constructive behaviours have been shown in research to be associated with positive outcomes to conflict. The Destructive / Damaging behaviours have been shown to lead to significant escalation of conflict and poor resolutions and outcomes[1].
All churches and particularly their pastoral leaders have an agenda of growth and transformation in people’s lives. While this is positive and healthy, it often means change and challenge for church members. There are times when church members have a concern that they would like to raise with church leadership which is not primarily personal but about a sermon, a change, an incident which occurred or a question of leadership or ministry practice. It is inappropriate in a large church to expect the Minister to deal personally with each of these matters. The following process is meant to assist church members with an appropriate way to raise and get a response to issues of concern.
Great to be back at Sydney Missionary and Bible College today to teach on conflict in Christian Communities.
We covered the reasons churches are both conflict prone and conflict averse. Looked at the dynamics of conflict, How to analyse a conflict and prepare well for facing it. We finished with some reflection on Matt 18 and the processes of dealing with interpersonal conflict.
Great to have the day with officers and staff managers of the Tasmanian Salvation Army in Hobart on Thursday. As part of their Leadership and Management Training Program (LaMP) we explored the dynamics of Difficult Conversations.
Over the last few weeks I have met with the leadership teams of several churches seeking to resolve internal conflicts. Here are some observations from the frontline. 
Conflict is particularly common within Elderships, Church Councils, Church Boards and also between Ministers and these senior lay leadership groups. The following is a policy for keeping this conflict healthy and constructive.
All churches and particularly their pastoral leaders have an agenda of growth and transformation in people’s lives. While this is positive and healthy, it often means change and challenge for church members. There are times when church members have a concern that they would like to raise with church leadership which is not primarily personal but about a sermon, a change, an incident which occurred or a question of leadership or ministry practice. It is inappropriate in a large church to expect the Minister to deal personally with each of these matters. The following process is meant to assist church members with an appropriate way to raise and get a response to issues of concern.
Great to be back at Sydney Missionary and Bible College today to teach on conflict in Christian Communities.
Great to have the day with officers and staff managers of the Tasmanian Salvation Army in Hobart on Thursday. As part of their Leadership and Management Training Program (LaMP) we explored the dynamics of Difficult Conversations.