Loading ...Review of “Managing Congregational Conflict”
This was another excellent book on the topic of church fights. It is the second book that I have read for the Doctor of Ministry program. This book provides a flowchart that is easy to understand to navigate through the process of healing conflict within a congregation. The book has great insight into some of the “gut theologies” within churches. The first section of the book about these erroneous views about church problems is worth the weight of the book. The next great section is concerning Christian assertiveness. This is a misunderstood idea within the church. People have numerous false views on how a Christian is to act. Much of these views are from culture and not the Bible. This is another section that is worth the price of the book. The book continues with more of an academic explanation of traveling through the conflict in a healthy way. This is not the best book on this, certainly not a first to read book on conflict but is for those who are more mature in the process of healing a church. Nevertheless, the book is worth the money for those who have a passion to be a peacekeeper or to help a congregation resolve a conflict. There will be a extensive review in the comment section tomorrow as well.
Related posts:
- Review of “Leading Congregational Change”
- Review of “Managing Transitions”
- Review of “Guiding People Through Conflict”
- Review of “Managing the Congregation”
- GENERATIONAL CONFLICT
About The Author
A group project that developed out of the American Baptist Association’s desire for revitalization provides practical insights into the process of change in American church congregations. Jim Herrington, Mike Bonem, and James Furr appear to have expertise in leading leaders in the process of changing congregations. All of these men work in Houston, Texas, and seem to be major influencers in that area.
In dealing with the perspective that conflict in congregations is always unhealthy, the authors provide a necessary explanation of the two types of conflict within a congregation. There is life-threatening conflict which tears down a congregation, and there is also life-giving conflict which ultimately builds a congregation through the change process. The authors recognize that for the most part, the leaders will bear the majority of the stress and tension in a change environment within the church, and most ministers are not equipped for this role because typically they are trained to be managers and not leaders. It is for this reason that the congregational transformation model is given as a defining paradigm for the leader of the congregation. There are two parts of the model, which include the change process and the learning disciplines. These two tracks combine to create spiritual and relational vitality. Spiritual vitality is defined as one’s relationship with God and relational vitality is considered one’s relationship with God’s people. A congregation that goes through the change process properly should arrive at a heightened level of vitality.
Before the change process begins, one must judge the vitality of the congregation because “congregations without an adequate level of vitality will not be able to sustain significant change” This is why some congregations are destined to die no matter what the leader does. The congregational flow chart is the process one takes to help a congregation realize God’s vision for the particular congregation. All of the steps are not individual parts, but they flow together to create the whole picture. Missing a step or a stage will circumvent the process or sabotage the change. All of the dynamics must flow together by supporting one another through the difficult journey.
The process of change is incredibly difficult, especially for the leader, because of the systemic pressure on the change agent. Much of the coming criticism will land on his shoulders. Unless there is a strong spiritual foundation of leadership, the change initiate will come to a screeching halt. This halt happens because most congregations are largely resistant to change. One of the most difficult steps is creating a desire for change. The people must have a sense of need for the change to take place. This is why the leader must create a sense of urgency in the membership. There is tension involved in this step by presenting the needs of the world or culture and presenting the effectiveness of the congregation. This gap must be highlighted to the people. Most people have an overinflated understanding of their particular congregation. The individual members may love the church, but the majority of newcomers have no interest in the congregation.
After a painful dose of reality is given to the congregation, hopefully the question has been created, “What do we do now?” This begins the process of discovering God’s vision for the congregation. This forthcoming vision must be a community effort by the powerbrokers of the congregation. It cannot be “sent from above,” but must develop organically from the leadership team or vision team in the church. This discernment of the correct vision is one of the most important processes in change. This vision goes through three stages which provide needed insight on why some vision statements die and others are successful. There is the mission, which is God’s overall plan for His church, the vision, which is a picture of the future, and the vision path, which is a description of the steps that will be taken to achieve the vision. The final form of the vision must be clear, shared, and compelling for it to be motivating and changing. Then the vision must be communicated over and over again. This is, perhaps, where too many congregations fail. The vision has a series of sermons, and then is placed on the letterhead and sinks into the background. For the vision to be effective, it must be mentioned often.
After the vision has been given, people must be empowered to implement the needed change. This must be done through people who are motivated to truly accomplish the task. This stage is where most congregations fail because within the churches of Christ context, few elders have the ability to relinquish control. Often, empowerment translates to doing the “dirty work” while the entire decision-making power is still held within the eldership. True empowerment means allowing people to operate within permission-based organization that has a sense of accountability and review. Even if people are empowered, this does not always mean they will know what to do. This is why the stage of implementing the vision is important. There must to be “a specific set of coordinated, high leverage initiatives that move the congregation toward realization of God’s vision.” This movement must be sustained through alignment to reinforce the momentum. The most difficult part of any project is often the beginning stage. Alignment occurs when the majority of the people and ministries are functioning to complement the vision of the congregation. There are two major roadblocks along this route: people may see this change as “just another program” and all church members know that programs come and go, or people may become fatigued by the increased momentum. These roadblocks must be monitored in order for progress to continue.
As there are two types of conflict within a congregation, there are also two types of leadership style. The common style of leadership is transactional leadership which is based on transactions or exchanges between leaders and their followers. The higher level of leadership is transformational leadership, in which the leader helps followers to embrace a vision of the preferred future. The circle on the change model of page 13 describes the methods and the actions that must be taken to implement change, while the second circle describes the behaviors of the leader. The first circle is what the leader does and the second circle is what the leader becomes.
The first action for the leader is to generate and sustain creative tension. The natural tendency for man is to reduce the tension in various situations in life. The leader must cast the vision of the possibilities while highlighting the reality of the present state of the congregation. Often the leader’s reality check on the congregation will go against the grain because of the naïve perception of the membership. The leader promotes this vision to motivate commitment, not simply compliance, from the majority of those within the congregation. The authors highlight this within the book, “the need for commitment is a central thesis.”
The congregation will not be able to process the change model unless the leader is changing. All people have certain presumptions on what church is and does. These are mental models. The leader must challenge these mental laws before he is able to lead change. This could be the most difficult element for a leader. All people are limited by their own ignorance. One of the major mental changes a leader must make is from the lone soldier to a team developer. The leader must enable a team to produce results beyond what one individual could deliver. The leader becomes involved with the team as one of the players in the sense that he is learning with the other people. The best leaders will produce the best teams. As the leader changes, he must develop the ability to think in terms of systems. The leader can consider interactions between different parts and understand causes that may not be obvious. One must know the difference between the events, trends and structures of congregational life. By understanding the process behind human interactions, the leader will be able to navigate change more efficiently. Taking a simplistic view of the dynamics of the church will lead to shallow solutions without addressing the real, powerful dynamics below the surface. Change leaders should look at the congregation as a complex and interrelated system where a change in one department can ripple throughout the organization.
The two tracks in the change model work together to create the desired solution within the congregation. As all congregations seek to maintain the status quo, the leader in changing the organization must take the appropriate steps for the change to have lasting results. If the leader practices one circle without developing the other circle, the change will end up stalling and will not produce the spiritual and relational vitality that is the crucial for a healthy congregation.