Conflict: How to know when it is bad and what to do about it
Churches aren't immune from strife.
Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “Where two Baptists are gathered, there are three opinions.” This is a humorous nod both to the strength of our convictions and to our Baptist distinctives, which encourage us to develop our own understandings of faith and life based on our readings of scripture and our relationships with God and community.
It’s also an expression of conflict which, at its root, is simply two or more people seeing things differently. Disagreement is key to personal and congregational growth. Without it, we are never invited to consider new practices or revisit beliefs we’ve held for a long time. That means we are unlikely to experience transformation.
Of course, we’ve all experienced conflict that has gone beyond a robust conversation about things that matter into a problem that threatens connections and collaboration. (These blow-ups are what most people think of when they hear the word “conflict.”) It seems like these kinds of disputes are becoming more frequent in our divided society, so it’s important to recognize the signs that conflict has become unhealthy:
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