In the second year of the establishment of our church, we faced our first major crisis. Two elders left the church, but not before I filed serious charges against me as a pastor. Suddenly, our young church entered dark, dark waters full of leadership conflicts. Unsurprisingly, the resignation of these two alumni resulted in a series of very difficult member meetings.
But God was with us. There were many examples of his kindness, but one in particular stands out: on Sunday morning of what would be the most difficult members meeting for me, God sent Rod and his wife Joy, who were on vacation in the area, to visit Rod was a pastor and the previous year had gone through a surprisingly similar period of conflict in his church. Two elders are leaving. Accusations. Rod’s encouragement and wisdom over the following week was a grace for me, a young shepherd struggling to keep his head on the waters of the rough seas. Joy served my wounded wife.
- I recently had the opportunity to advise a pastor facing a leadership conflict in his church.
- And I remembered how often churches are affected.
Leadership conflict in the church is difficult. It’s scary, disorienting, confusing and harmful. And every church has such a conflict. Jesus spoke of false prophets who would be among the disciples (Matthew 7:15-20). Paul also warned the elders of Ephesus that wolves would rise from among themselves and not forgive the flock (Acts 20:29-30). Addressing such threats necessarily implies a conflict.
Then there are the less terrible but often destructive disagreements between Paul and Barnabas that Satan uses to harm the churches. Pastors should be vigilant to do all they can to avoid leadership conflicts, but they must also respond wisely to leadership conflicts when they arise.
Looking back, here are nine lessons I learned from the experience of conflict in our church.
As pastors, our most fundamental responsibility is to preach the Word (2 Timothy 4. 2), but in the midst of controversy, we can easily get lost and leave the preparation of the sermon in the background. One of the first questions an older pastor asked me when he found out that I was facing a conflict in the church was, “How are your sermons?He wanted me to avoid the trap, in which many shepherds fell, to think they had an excuse not to prepare.
Brothers, the battle will affect our emotions and it will sometimes make the preparation of the sermon difficult. But our people still need to hear the Word of God. Our people also need to hear the voice of a faithful sub-pastor, especially if other voices hold their attention.
Finally, the shepherds themselves need to spend time with God through His Word. David was strengthened in the Lord when his own men spoke of stoned him after his wives and children were taken captive by the Alecites (1 Samuel 30. 6). Preparation for the sermon gives us the opportunity to do the same.
In the leadership conflict, the struggle is almost always personal: pastors are forced to face human opponents when church health is at stake.
But at the end of the day, we must remember that Satan works in all cases of conflict in the church; he wants conflict to cause division in the church; intends that church members be wounded and deceived; if possible, he intends to dishonor the name of Christ in the community.
And this is the main point. Satan is much smarter and stronger than us. When he asked the Lord to shake Peter (Luke 22:31), Satan had no doubt that he would succeed or not. I just needed permission. In the face of such an enemy, our responsibility as shepherds is to humiliate us in prayer and to ask Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep (Hebrews 13:20), to fight for his people.
In conflict, subtle clues, vague accusations, and even brazen lies combine to present church members with a distorted image of their pastor.
How can they separate the real from the false? Pastors, it is our responsibility to love our people so well that they really know us. If, as a rule of ministry, we hide our studies and refuse to interact with other members of the church, they will not know us and will not be. willing to recognize slander when conflict elletes.
How should we love our people? One hundred ways. But one way of loving is essential: hospitality. The elderly must be hospitable (1 Timothy 3. 2). Hospitality is a wonderful way to become disciples, but it also prepares our people for conflict. By loving our people and inviting them into our homes to really know us, we allow them to recognize images distorted by who they are. .
During the conflict in our church, it helped me a lot to meditate on Matthew 5 and Romans 12. How do these two chapters contain?And ‘never leave’. In short, they contain God’s wisdom about how we should behave with others, even those who oppose us.
Satan uses leadership conflict to cause divisions in the church. Pastors often fall into the trap of verbally defending themselves and even launching counterattacks against the opposition. They unscreed people for their cause and claim their rights. While this seems justifiable, the end result is almost always more conflict and confusion. Do people have to choose between the pastor and the opposition?A difficult choice when both sides are actively fishing.
But if we accept God’s wisdom, love our enemies, patiently endure suffering, and never get revenge, our people will have a clear choice between those who follow God’s Word, even if it is personally expensive, and those who are not. they’re them
Often, in the leadership conflict, the opposition makes vague accusations against a pastor; Lacking a lethal weapon such as adultery or corruption, they focus on issues such as pride, impatience, or anger, claiming that the pastor is unsuitable for ministry.
Meanwhile, the fundamental message pastors hear is: “You are a very bad person. “These public accusations are deeply hurtful; they also hurt our women and our families.
Even if we have to recognize that we are fighting pride, anger, and impatience, does a pastor not fight against such sins?We always feel judged unfairly. In the flesh, our temptation is to respond in a similar way, we want revenge and we make our own criticisms. But the gospel allows us to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39).
Pastoral brothers, our fundamental message is that we are so evil that the Son of God had to come to earth and die on a cross because of our sin. In ourselves, we are evil people who desperately need God’s grace. the accusations that often accompany him give us the opportunity to humbly acknowledge our failures and ask for the prayer of our people.
This does not mean that we will never have to defend ourselves against outrageous lies and accusations; After all, Satan is the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12. 10). Nor do I think we are wise if we confess sins that we don’t actually commit. I just want to emphasize how difficult it is to convince a congregation that the pastor is bloated with pride when he humbly acknowledges his flaws and shortcomings. Honest humility extinguishes many personal attacks and gives an example to our people worthy of follow-up.
Paul encouraged Timothy: “Do I particimate my suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus?(2 Timothy 2. 3). This is good advice, because there is so much suffering in pastoral care. Leadership conflict, in particular, is painful. It is difficult to attend members’ meetings and hear distorted or dishonest reports about their personalities.
In those moments, it can be tempting to whine and complain, but we must remember that this is our job. By calling us to be his sub-managers, God has called us to suffering. Part of our job as substores is to be bitten by wolves so that sheep are not bitten. By the grace of God, our will to be bitten?? By relentless opposition without responding to the sinner, this may be the means God uses to preserve the church from division and perhaps even destruction.
In their book Redeeming Church Conflicts, Kara Barthel and David Edling warn: “One of the biggest mistakes people make in the midst of a conflict in the church is not trusting the scriptures. “
Conflict often causes uproar in the church. As some members panic, other strong leaders of the congregation rise up and seek to take control. They meet with both parties and determine for themselves who is to blame. The result is more clutter and division.
What happened? They forgot about the manual. They forgot God’s instructions to deal with conflicts in the church. God has given us ecclesiastical discipline to guide us through the dark waters of conflict in the church. It is particularly important for the church to follow ecclesiastical discipline when conflict involves an old man.
There is no space in this article to go into the teaching of the Bible on church discipline, but it is vital that we and our churches commit to practicing biblical discipline. Once again, the devil is smarter than us. God’s guidance to resolve conflicts in the church, we will unconsciously find ourselves following Satan.
It is true that Satan seeks to harm the whole church, but pastor, Satan is especially armed for you. He knows you’re suffering and knows how easily bitterness takes root in the human heart. It can be very tempting to relive painful conversations with opponents and mentally degrade them by saying things you’d like to say. Satan is glad to overwhelm us with that, imaginations.
But if thoughts of vengeance have a sweet taste in the mouth, they quickly turn bitter in our stomachs. If we are bitter, we sin and tempt God to withdraw his blessed hand from our ministry. What should we do? Free and completely?Just as God forgave us (Ephesians 4:32).
Even if our adversaries never recognize their mistakes and even if they refuse to repent or reconcile, we can always forgive. God has forgiven us much more than we will ever have to forgive anyone. We can entrust our enemies to God, correct them with kindness, and pray for their repentance (2 Timothy 2:25).
Even if we must finally get the congregation to use its authority to remove un remorseful opponents from church membership, we can do so without animosity. Ecclesiastical discipline must always be done with love and tears. In short, bitterness enslaves, but the forgiveness of the gospel. And when one forgives, one discovers how Corrie Ten Boom, that forgiving is freeing a prisoner and discovering that the prisoner was you.
It is not natural to be grateful for a conflict, but this is the case because we tend to focus on momentary suffering, rather than the privilege of serving as pastors of King Jesus.
Brethren, we do not deserve easy ministries, we deserve hell
But with wonderful love, God has reached us gracefully through the Gospel, have we been redeemed?And besides, we have had the privilege of serving the Lord as shepherds.
In 2 Corinthians, Paul repeatedly recounts the suffering he suffered while serving as a minister of the gospel. Take the time to read 2 Corinthians 4. 7-12; 6. 1-10 and 11. 16-33. Incredible suffering.
And yet listen to the Apostle’s perspective in 2 Corinthians 4. 1: “That is why, having this ministry, according to the mercy given to us, we have not fainted. “
Brethren, we are not shepherds because we are worthy of them, we are shepherds because God is merciful. In Christ, all we receive from God is mercy; Even the disorienting, depressing, and dark seasons of ministry are mercy Do light and momentary tribulations produce in us an eternal weight of glory, over any comparison?(2 Corinthians 4:17), and we have every reason to be grateful.
There is no question that leadership conflict in the church is difficult, but as pastors, we can rejoice in the reality that God’s grace and wisdom are sufficient to sustain us. We can resist because we know that in time we will reap, if you don’t faint (Galatians 6: 9).
My own church has experienced God’s grace for a year and a half; I can’t say that we are fully recovered, but I can say that God has been kind to us, guided us to the end. He gave our church new elders who faithfully shepherded the flock. He continues to support and support our young church and continues to teach us that at all times is enough.
Translation: Camila Rebeca Teixeira. Review: André Alosio Oliveira da Silva. © 2017 Faithful Ministérium. All rights reserved. Website: MinistryFiel. com. br. Original: 9 lessons for pastors facing leadership conflicts.
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