Running head: CONFLICT IN CHURCH

CONFLICT IN CHURCH
Tiffany Sanders
Liberty University
Professor Clifford Kelly
Communication and Conflict
COMS 560
August 26, 2016

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Introduction
Conflicts are caused mainly by misunderstandings among people or organizations with
different perspectives over an issue. This can cause anger or even animosity. Conflicts are not
only contained in one area of life but can be experienced in every aspect of life from religion to
culture, work places families, homes, governments amongst others. In this writing, conflict in
churches is what will be discussed (Barth, 2012). It is usually assumed by different people that
conflicts are not experienced in churches or in any other place of worship. This is a null
hypothesis in that where there are people with different views on the same issue or even different
issues, there is a conflict. We are all created different with different takes and have acquired
different principles of issues due to the environment we are brought up in or even where we live
or stay and with the types of people we interact with.
Going to church does not make our views become united this is because we are all
humans and not spiritual beings. What really seems to put the thoughts and perspective of the
believers united is the fact that we believe in the same God and all are striving to live a holy life
so that one day we can be with the Lord where He is (Heaven). The church is also referred to as a
holy place where people with the same belief come together to do one main thing which is to
worship God. From time in memorial, as indicated even in the bible, conflicts in church,
synagogues and in the temple have been given many emphases. It has been an issue that h the
believers not only in the present but also in the past. Most of the conflicts have been dealt with
through various scriptures and also through the teachings of Christ during His ministry on earth.
However, even with all the teachings and the fact that almost all the Christians have the
basic tutorial (the bible) of how a Christ-like life should be led, conflict still exists. Most of them

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recur but some of them have evolved and become more complex such that dealing with them
become tasking and time consuming. The changes are due to changes in technology and
generations. The study of these conflicts hence becomes hectic and the solving becomes even
more difficult than what is expected.
Issues and Causes of Conflicts
Conflicts are different in different congregations or churches. There is no way to predict
the church or congregation that is more prone to conflicts simply because each one of them is
exposed to different environments and contain different people all together (Cleary, 2013). In
analyses done in various churches, the issues and the causes of conflicts are more or less the
same but with different dynamics. The main issue that causes conflicts in several churches is
power and personal preference. Most people love to be in power and leadership regardless
whether its their calling or not. They do not usually want to know the responsibilities that come
to being a leader of a great number of people who are from different ethnicities, race, hoods,
lifestyles and educational backgrounds (Hoge & Faue, 2010).
The other issue that raises conflicts is doctrine and culture. Each and every individual has
their own belief and way of understanding the bible. This hence becomes an issue to
misunderstand one another. This is because the way someone will take a scripture is not the same
way another will because as they say, everyone has a revelation from the word and in most times
it is very different. Different interpretations mean different things to different people in the
audience. Culture also plays a great role. Some Christians have chosen some good aspects of
their culture that do not compromise with their faith and practice them in their day-to-day lives

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while others strongly disapprove traditional culture in church. This issue becomes a basis of
conflict and a great rift in a church.
These issues affect different people differently and hence bring about different feelings
and reactions in them. These reactions are not always positive and hence they form the basis of
conflicts. There are several causes of conflict that can be explained in various ways. First, selfcentered people or rather referred to as selfish people. These kinds of people in a congregation
want their views and ideas to be followed without considering other options or possibilities on a
certain subject or issue. With selfishness, and self-centeredness one can bring a big rift. This is
because a church has so many individuals who make the body of Christ and in that congregation;
each person has their own opinions and strengths that can contribute to the advancement of the
gospel to the rest of the earth as Jesus commanded. Hence the desire to be heard always and the
push to impose things and ideas to people is one of the main causes of conflicts in the church
since no one wants to be dictated upon. Selfishness goes even to the extent in which leaders in
the church.
Secondly, pastors and elders impose the people they want to work with or new leaders to
the congregation. This causes a great rift in the church because the importance of every opinion
is assumed and considered null and void. This then might cause church hoping due to lack of
trust on the leaders and the direction in which the church is headed. God in the bible calls
Christians telling them to come and reason together with him and if that line is crossed
relationships in church become broken.
Thirdly, anger and hate is also another major cause of conflict in churches. This is
something that is not even thought to exist in a church because the society expects that Christians

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are holy people and hence should not experience anger. Anger is caused by lack of trust in
someone. In the scriptures, anger is considered as a vice and as something that should not be
found in a Christian. Broken promises and trust stir up anger and when anger builds up, it causes
hate and loathe. Hatred causes a rift in relationships in the church in that people cant reason
rationally about an issue or even in discussion with individuals who they hate. It then causes a
separation in the people who are for the idea and those who are not for. Hatred hinders our
perspective on equal opportunities of everyone during a discussion.
The fourth cause of conlfict is characterized by the commercialization of church
activities. This involves the operation of a church with an aim of making a financial gain.
Imposters pose as god sent and dupe nave audiences who desperately give in to the demands of
the con pastors in exchange of miraculous wealth generating and prophecies. It has caused major
crisis and conflict of interest when a section of the congregation becomes knowledgeable about
the issue. Some members might say that it is a command from God (which to some extent is) but
when the greed for money and fame gets the better part of them, and then it becomes a selfish
agenda. This causes a great rift and hence causing members to change the places of worship.
This is the main cause of the mushrooming churches we see today due to rebellion of some
church members who have a different opinion about the church and leaders they are with or in.
Lastly, idolatry (worshipping other gods or putting other things above God) is another
major source of conflict. This has caused a lot of conflict in that people tend to put their wealth
and businesses above God. They want to be seen more important than the rest or the others.
Some Christians also go to the extent of worshipping their leaders and prophets and they forget
that they are humans just like them. This causes a rift between those that put God first and follow

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the Word and those that are revering the prophets and pastors. When this concern is raised, each
and every party supports their opinion and no one wants to listen to the other party hence a fight
in church. Idolizing the pastors has been used by some members so that they can get important
positions in the church. When they finally get the positions contrary to what the congregants
want, then those that are not in support of them become distanced and they eventually give up on
the doctrines of the church.
Communication Methodologies
Conflicts are not entirely unhealthy. Bad conflicts are those that are ignored and
considered not important. Healthy conflicts on the other hand are those that are identified, dealt
with, discussed, managed and resolved. The way to resolve conflicts is mainly through sober
communication that does not cause enmity amongst those involved but causes love, peace and
unity among them by searching for a common ground or level for reconciliation (Church &
Rogers, 2006). Resolving church conflict is not that simple because mostly each of the parties
justifies why they had to do that even to the extent of quoting the bible to back them up. This
process should usually start with prayers to ask for guidance throughout the reconciliation
process. Communication is a process that starts from preparations to the actual meeting and
resolving of the matter. The process can either be done by the parties involved and reconcile after
reaching an agreement or can be done through a mediator or both due to disagreement of the
parties when they meet alone.
The first option involves the parties meeting up and discussing their concerns and issues
that have led to the conflict. They sit down together in a meeting of their own and try to come to
an agreement and hence the road to reconciliation. They identify the problem and discuss it from

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their point of view until they agree and forgive each other on where they have hurt the other. If
this meeting doesnt bear fruits, then they call a mediator that can help them solve their issues.
The mediator in this context is usually someone that they are both conversant with or who knows
them very well.
The other process only involves the presence of a mediator so that the reconciliation can
be effective. This becomes the choice if the matter is too serious and involves the opinion of a
third neutral party. Most of the church conflicts are resolve using this method. It is usually a
tiring and time consuming process because it requires a lot of preparations and willing parties.
The processes used in churches today involve several steps, namely: conflict identification,
manager or mediator selection, secretary selection, information gathering, and initial meeting
scheduling.
Conflict identification involves identifying the conflict as soon as it starts without waiting
further for distractions to occur. The church also known as the body of Christ is said to be a city
upon a hill that everyone looks to hence when a conflict begins, it causes even the others who are
not Christians to lose their desire to know God and hence identifying it early before it reaches
out there becomes the first step to communication. Getting if first prevents more damage because
when others get to know about it, those involved get more wrong ideas from onlookers and the
rift becomes larger and more difficult to solve.
Manager or mediator selection is not usually done by the conflicting parties but by those
that are within the church and have the desire to see the existing conflict be addressed rationally
without any consideration of one party than the other. This is usually done so that the manager

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who acts as a mediator starts on a neutral ground without favoring any involved party. This
mediator usually is one that is spiritually mature and one that can give advice accordingly.
Under secretarial selection, a secretary is usually selected so as to take notes on the
happenings of the meetings so that in the consequent meetings they can be used as references.
The secretary chosen is also usually one that is spiritually mature so that they can be rational in
their takings. They are usually expected to stick to what is discussed in the meetings without
badmouthing any of the parties to the other members of the church.
With information gathering, both the selected manager and the secretary usually gather
information from the disputing parties separately. They meet each party separately to get their
side of the story. Their work at this stage is just to listen and pay attention to every detail
mentioned in the meetings. This is done so that during the meeting they can be knowledgeable of
the concerns and feelings each party has.
Initial meeting scheduling can be described as a call from the manager after gathering and
exhausting all the information from the parties involved. He/she usually calls the parties and
suggests a day, time and venue of the meeting to them and considers their responses. If they both
agree then the meeting is scheduled on the said date, time and venue. This usually happens so as
to allow those involved in disputes to come together and discuss the issues in front of the
mediator and secretary. In this stage, the manager always arrives first so that he can be the one to
welcome the disputing parties. He/ she do this by shaking their hands and smiling so as to reduce
the anxiousness of those that are involved making them feel at ease. The manager usually begins
the meeting and is the one who originally expresses concerns as the initial step towards

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reconciliation. The parties are allowed to discuss their issues and come to an agreement. If they
do not, then subsequent meetings are scheduled.
Recommendations
It is not usually easy to solve disputes in churches because sometimes even mediations
fail to work because each and everyone have a verse to support their arguments and point of
view. According to my opinion, Christians should just choose to live just like Christ. It is no
good to hold grudges since we also do mistakes or rather we sin and God who is a merciful
father forgives us all pour sins and transgressions and remembers them no more. It is then our
Christian duty to be like God in all our ways because we decided to follow Him and listen to His
voice. I believe that one of the simplest ways of solving the conflicts in churches is going back to
the basics which are contained in the bible. We do not really need to have a cold war in churches
simply because we are displeased about some issues.
Leaders should act as good examples by gathering their congregants and showing them
the right path. This is not easy as such but with a good leader just as Jesus and the prophets in the
bible, then people will b led to God and not to their selfish desires. The church should also stay
in one accord in everything. Rush decisions should not be made and discussions should be
upheld. The ones that fall away should be brought up with love and not condemnation. It is also
important that when resolving the conflicts, they should be done in a manner that will improve
the people involved and also bring glory to God. Let the corrections be done with love and
considerations.

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Learning more about the generation gaps and change in trends in the modern society is
also something that should be considered. This is simply because the church should be all
rounded and well prepared to deal with all the changes in a manner that does not chase people
away from the kingdom of God. The youth are the leaders of tomorrow and if the church does
not step up and train them on how to manage conflicts by showing them the perfect example,
then the future does not seem that promising.
It is of great importance if a research is done on how the churches are dealing currently
with the changes in the society from the modes of dressing, codes of address, words used, ethics
and even technology. Are they really dealing with them positively or are they assuming that it is
evil and should not be accepted in the church? Are they using the gifts given to them by God in
the environment they are in to draw more youth to Christ or are they letting the youths go
because they are corrupt? These are the vital questions that need to be addressed and way
forward put in place so that the call of Jesus about the great commission in Matthew 28:18-20 is
obeyed and propagated to the other generations.

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References
Barth, K. (2012). The German church conflict. Lutterworth Press.
Church, C. V., & Johnson, L. S. (2004). A path to peace or persistence? The single identity
approach to conflict resolution in Northern Ireland. Conflict Resolution Quarterly , 21(3),
273-293.
Church, C., & Rogers, M. M. (2006). Designing for results: Integrating monitoring and
evaluation in conflict transformation programs . Search for Common Ground. Hunt, T. C.
(2006).
Cleary, E. L. (2013). Conflict and Competition: The Latin American Church in a Changing
Environment. Rienner.
Hoge, D. R., & Faue, J. L. (2010). Sources of conflict over priorities of the Protestant church.
Social Forces, 52(2), 178-194.