Resolve Conflicts in the Church

 

Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis and this is “Multiply,” the podcast that provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters. 

One of the best things about eternal life is that in the new heaven and the new earth will be freed from conflict.  Conflicts, small and large are painful.  They remind us that the world in which we live is broken.  Conflict was not a part of God’s original design for people.  But conflict is a part of our everyday existence.

If you have been a church planter for even a short time, you have experienced conflict.  You probably dislike conflict as much as I do.  But since conflict is inevitable in our fallen world, even in the church, we need to be prepared to deal with it in the best way possible.  

As I was growing up, I learned two ways to deal with conflict.  One way was to avoid conflict.  That meant one hid from the conflict until one could not hide any longer. Once the conflict was unavoidable, one would try not to provoke the person with whom one was in conflict.  This was awful.

The other way to try to resolve conflict was to become angry, to raise one’s voice, shouting that the conflict was not one’s fault, that it was completely the other person’s fault and demanding that the conflict be solved by the other person. Immediately! That was also awful!

I have to admit; over the years, I’ve tried both methods to resolve conflicts.  Let me assure you, neither one works very well at all.  I am so glad that God shows us a better way to deal with conflict.  That way is modeled in the New Testament in Acts 15:1-29. The conflict was very serious.  Should Christ-followers from a non-Jewish background be required to keep the Sabbath and obey the Jewish dietary law such as don’t eat pork, don’t eat fish without scales, etc.?  And should non-Jewish followers of Jesus be required to be circumcised just as Jewish baby boys and men who were converted to Judaism?  

The conflict was both important and divisive.  But Paul and Barnabas managed it well.  The conflict was framed as a question. “Should the Gentiles be required to be circumcised and required to keep the Law of Moses?”  They clearly stated the facts related to the conflict. (Acts 15:7-11).  Paul and Barnabas reported evidence of God at work in the midst of the conflict. By quoting from Amos 9, they showed that the conversion of the Gentiles without submission to the Law of Moses was foretold in Scripture.  Humbly, they made a biblical case for their position.  But they submitted the conflict to the elders for a decision.  The elders then wrote a letter giving instructions concerning how to resolve the conflict.  

The letter said, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.”  Because Paul and Barnabas managed this conflict well, we, as Gentile believers in Christ experience great freedom. I shudder to think what would have happened if they had not stated the facts, posed the conflict as a question, focused on God at work and on the Word of God, humbly submitting their conflict to the elders of the church. Because they managed the conflict well, we are free.

So my brothers and sisters, I have good news and bad.  First the bad news.  Your churches will experience conflicts.  Now the good news. You can deal with conflict in a healthy way, confident that God will help you resolve your conflicts in ways that honour him and bless you and your people.

This has been “Multiply.” And I’m Dean Davis asking, “Who will you share this encouraging word with today?