Deal with People
Lovett H. Weems, Jr., says rather than dealing with a problem person head-on, churches will instead try to resolve the difficulty by formulating a policy…
Browsing: Conflict
Articles
4 Opportunities for the Church in the Current Political Tension
Pastor Carey Nieuwhof believes the church is uniquely positioned to respond to the political tension and division that characterize our age. He discusses four ways…
Moving Faith Communities to Fruitful Conversations about Race
Moving Faith Communities to Fruitful Conversations about Race is a dialogue about race in America that may be used to help your church bring people…
Expecting the Best of People Can Bring Out Their Best
Lovett Weems shares the story of how a church leader brought around a critic of a new homeless ministry by approaching the individual with a…
Difficult Conversations
Olu Brown, founding pastor of the fast-growing Impact Church in Atlanta, says that difficult conversations just come with the territory if you are a leader.…
When Volunteers Aren’t Working Out
Churches often put up with ineffective volunteers because they don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, says Lory Beth Huffman, a pastor in Western North Carolina.…
Changing Congregational Trends
Every five years Faith Communities Today provides a marvelous service to all churches through their very thorough survey of religious congregations across the United States.…
More Than a Nonanxious Presence
When I came to my first local church appointment in California from the East Coast, about the only thing I had been told about the…
Your Leadership Attitude is Contagious
A co-worker arrived at the door of my office waving an angry email from one of our most talented adult education teachers. The teacher was…
Why I Don’t Engage Unhappy Church Members by Email
One thing I do not do anymore is engage unhappy parishioners by email or respond to them if they write to me. You know what…
Determine On What Hills You Are Willing To Die
As a much younger leader, I wanted to fight about everything. Growing in this particular understanding may be more a factor of aging and maturing.…
The Promise and Peril of Conflict
A compelling example of leaders turning conflict into opportunity for structural and cultural change is found in the first seven verses of Acts 6. The…
Promise and Peril: Understanding and Managing Change and Conflict in Congregations
In Promise and Peril (Alban, 2009), David Brubaker tackles the conundrum churches face: Change usually leads to conflict, but change is required to make progress.…
Communication Strategies for Addressing Conflict
Whenever I work with churches that are experiencing serious conflict, especially those that have reached the point of impasse, communication issues commonly emerge. Regularly, parishioners…
Eight Strategies for Managing Conflict
In her book Getting to Amen: Eight Strategies for Managing Conflict in the African American Church, Lora-Ellen McKinney summarizes key strategies for managing conflict in…
Speaking the Truth in Love to a Longtime Member
During my third year as pastor of the Austin Church in north-central Pennsylvania, I faced a leadership crisis that threatened the effectiveness of my ministry…
Leading in a Wounded Church
One of the most important challenges of the church in our times is the specialized ministry necessary in a congregation after trust has been broken.…
Congregational Leadership in Difficult Times
What would your congregation’s worship service look like next Sunday if your sanctuary burned to the ground tomorrow, if a beloved pastor announced that he…
10 Tips for Handling Criticism in Ministry
Dealing with criticism and complaints is an issue in almost every area of ministry. Church leaders have had to deal with complaints from the beginning.…
When Church People Swarm
Margaret Marcuson says that when anxiety is high, church people often function reactively rather than thoughtfully, and band together like locusts. As a young seminarian,…