One of the things Dr. Bullard shared is that not all church conflict is unhealthy. Matter of fact, according to Dr. Bullard, every Church needs a little conflict and he gave seven reasons why:
1. Congregations without a healthy intensity of conflict do not have passion around their mission, purpose, and values.
2. Congregations without a healthy intensity of conflict do not have clear beliefs and core values.
3. Congregations without a healthy intensity of conflict are into an avoidance life style.
4. Congregations without a healthy intensity of conflict make shallow decisions that come from a group-think mentality.
5. Congregations without a healthy intensity of conflict do not have the opportunity to learn how to handle decision-making around complex issues, and thus handle transitional and unhealthy conflict when they are experienced.
6. Congregations without a healthy intensity of conflict do not learn how to keep conflict from escalating to an unhealthy intensity.
7. Congregations without a healthy intensity of conflict do not take risks because they are afraid it will create conflict it cannot handle.
What do you think..............
I used to work with church conflicts a lot and came to feel that my biggest challenge as a facilitator was to get people to admit there is conflict and accept that it is a part of congregational life. Once people shift to an attitude of accepting conflict, it gets far easier to deal constructively with it. The way I put it sometimes was: "If you want less conflict, try to have more." To put it more precisely, "If you want less conflict, invite disagreement."
ReplyDeleteRon Kraybill, PhD
www.RiverhouseEpress.com
Good Post Darrell,
ReplyDeleteThe list seems to be a synopsis of your two day seminar. Thanks for sharing.
Absolutely agree that conflict is good, but not all conflict processes are good. Reflecting on the "Five Disfunctions of a Team" by Patrick Lencioni...a team needs trust as a foundation, which to me is a relationship factor. Having conflict, with the absence of trust, results in experiences that reinforce negative views of the conflict process.
What do you think.......is a loaded question. You are asking those of us who did not attend to come up with an 'amazing reaction' to inform the informed (those attending who heard the expert). I really am more interested in what You think. In part, because we have good relationship. Blessings.