Category: Church Conflict

Covenant Commitments for Christians in Times of Conflict

“Making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3),
as individual members and as the body of Christ, before God, we commit that:

In our thoughts, we will

Accept conflict
Acknowledge together that disagreement and conflict are normal parts of our lives in Christian community and in themselves are not sinful.  Rom 14:1-8, 10-12, 17-19; 15:1-7

Preparing for Conflict

Christian churches are dynamic communities with strong values and beliefs. They are concerned with the transformation of individuals lives, with creating community and engaging the society around them. They are made up of volunteers who come from very different walks of life, with different personalities and who would not necessarily be together if it was not for the sake of God’s kingdom. Christian communities are also engaged with matters of eternal significance and they operate within a framework of personal, corporate and cosmic good and evil. All this is particularly fertile ground for conflict. While churches are particularly conflict prone, they do not usually understand this and often dismiss, deny or suppress creative disagreement in the name of love and unity. Consequently the organisation in our world which should be the most skilled and capable at dealing well with conflict is often paralysed, disabled and sometimes destroyed by it.

Managing Conflict

This 1 page article or handout has been prepared for leaders serving churches in times of conflict. It is a partner handout to Preparing for Confict and Restoring Community.