When Church Conflict Happens

This book has been a great help to me as I navigate challenges at my church. I have learnt that conflict can bring dishonour to God or show his love to the world. It has encouraged me to see how my inner conflict can have a root cause in church structure, which I have no influence over and I have to learn that I can probably never change. I have to know in my heart what are the non-negotiables for me, so that I can deal with conflict in a positive way.

I remember being invited to speak at a big church in Torrance. When I got there, I realized I was only there for half the church, because there was a church split and the two halves were worshiping separately on the same property. Yeah, that was really awkward. But unfortunately, church splitting is as common as church planting. No wonder there are so many books out there on church conflict. Most of them are bad, only because it addresses only one or two factors of church conflict and doesn't apply to the myriad of different kinds of conflict in the church. Finally, there comes a book that has it all. The best book on church conflict, and it comes out tomorrow - April 2
You know how a math nerd likes a book of intricate math problems or a chess enthusiast likes a book of chess strategies, or a word nerd loves solving cross-word puzzles? This book is kind of like that, or all of those. In addition to great principles and strategies for solving church problems, this book is full of real life examples, or problems that need to be solved. It's like a ministry puzzle book for ministry nerds. Some of the problems, I smile, because I remember going through them, and solving them in similar ways. Other problems remind me that the playing field is huge, as intricate as the people involved. Unlike math, each problem is unique, based on history, culture, personalities, intergroup fighting, intragroup fighting, intrapersonal, etc, and there are multiple solutions.

Here's a small exerpt:
The board recommended a congregational meeting for resolving a controversial issue. It started out okay, but then several people started talking at the same time, then it came to yelling at each other. Others joined in, and it got pretty ugly. Within a month, the church split and about a third of the congregation went down the street and started a new church.

Sadly, this example is all too common, so there are actually many books that address church conflict. This book, in my opinion is the best one. It has great principles for solving any church conflict, including a workbook section to work on your specific issues at church. I recommend this book for anyone in fulltime church ministry. A necessary book for any senior pastor or executive pastor.