Here Comes Conflict
During a local church meeting, a key leader passionately urges church members to choose a specific course of action. The leader says he knows the decision would be the Lord’s will.
As you listen to the leader, you become uneasy. The leader’s preferred plan seems unwise. You sense the Holy Spirit may be influencing your thinking.
No one else seems to disagree (at least not publicly) with the leader. Should you speak up and share your concerns? Should you remain silent to avoid conflict?
Since Christianity’s earliest days, believers have wrestled with these questions. History is full of church splits over inconsequential disputes. History also includes believers — Martin Luther, John Wesley and B.T. Roberts among others — who improved the church even though their statements and actions resulted in conflict.
Jeff Finley, Managing Editor
Author Donald Miller recently caused a stir with blog posts discussing why he rarely attends church. By following Miller’s lead, a person could avoid church conflict. Of course, that person would miss the accountability, fellowship and teaching of the local church (Hebrews 10:24–25).
Don’t skip church to avoid conflict, which is sometimes good, sometimes bad and sometimes both. In this issue, we consider how to handle conflict when it arrives in your local church.
Downloadable PDF: LLM April 2014
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Features
- Table of Contents
- [Feature]: Conflict Resolution: A Biblical and Psychological Process
- [Foundation]: Communal Obligations
- [Bishops]: Danger: Just Getting Along
- [History]: Purity and Peace
- [Action]: The Truckers’ Chaplain
- [News and Briefs]: E2 Equips, Informs, Inspires
- [World]: Why Did My Small Group Fail?
- [Discipleship]: Community as a Means of Grace
