Conflict, is it a dirty word? I remember thinking it was early on in my life. I remember having conversations with people who said, “Aren’t Christians always supposed to get along.” I also remember growing up in a church that experienced conflict and saw half of the congregation leave, never to return.
The truth is that conflict is a neutral word. Our problem is the emotion we experience when we are in it. For some, conflict elicits feelings of fear and hurt based on previous experiences. Maybe the individuals grew up in a home where their parents fought like it was World War III. For others, when one person in the family got mad, the spouse left the room and never faced the problem. These two solutions have been described as fighting or fleeing conflict.
Today, in our society, we see this tendency to flee a relationship. Two friends disagree on a subject and decide to depart from the friendship and never be friends again. Nationally speaking, there is a tendency when one political party is at odds with another that the solution is not to talk to or befriend opposition members. Sometimes, the disagreeing party is referred to as the enemy.
The problem is that most of the previously mentioned strategies for dealing with conflict today are not grounded in scripture. Scripture affirms that conflict is a part of life. We find in Acts 15 that the young church was confronted with the reality that people from all backgrounds were coming to know Christ. Some of these people had experience with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; others did not. The results were differing views on what it took to be a follower of Christ. One group said you must adhere to Jewish rules, and the other group said you don’t.
As we read further in the text, we find that the first Jerusalem council was convened. Leaders from both sides came together to pray, search the existing scripture, and share. Ultimately, a compromise was reached, and certain representatives were responsible for sharing the results with churches worldwide.
Sadly, our world does not function that way. That is why our Revitalization Team has agreed to partner with www.oneanotherproject.com to provide seminars and individual help with conflict resolution.
Our first event will be a Peacemaker Conference at Camp Copass on April 22-25. Blake Coffee will be our facilitator. He is the director of this group, an attorney, and a veteran mediator for churches in conflict. He and Dr. Ann Francis will lead us on a Biblical and practical application journey. The first part of each day will be devoted to lectures, and the second will be spent on conflict case studies. Through this three-day training, our goal will be to provide Biblically practical tools for each person to use in the future as they face conflict. Together, we will learn that conflict is not a dirty word. It is a part of life that can be used to grow each person involved.
For more information and to register, click on the link. Peacemaker Conference Registration