The Most Damaging Kind of Strife

"What are the most damaging kinds of strife in a church?"

The quiet ones. The submerged, diffused, unacknowledged conflicts that smolder for years and years. If the institution is not willing to grab hold, debate, decide, reconcile, split, or whatever needs to be done, the issue becomes a cancer within. It eats at the body’s vitality, consuming its energy, spreading until the case is terminal.

Give me a genuine theological donnybrook any day. At least you know what you’ve got and can set up a process to deal with it." - Lynn Buzzard¹

- fritz
^{1. SURVIVAL GUIDE: MASTERING CONFLICT, ARTICLE 1, War and Peace in the Local Church A leadership interview with Lynn Buzzard, pg 8}

Conflict - Catalyst for Necessary Change

"And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews " - Acts 5:1

"And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them." - Acts 11:2-3

We want to shy away from conflict - we all do, but it can be a good catalyst for necessary change

"We haven’t developed a very good theology of conflict in the church. We’ve talked so much about unity and peace. Nobody ever says, “Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a few quarrels?”

But when you look historically for the great moments of the church—the kind of things we make movies and write books about—they’re chock-full of angry, bitter conflict! No one ever hails those quiet times when everybody was having wonderful potluck suppers together.- Lynn Robert Buzzard¹

- fritz
^{1 - SURVIVAL GUIDE: MASTERING CONFLICT, ARTICAL 1, War and Peace in the Local Church, A leadership interview with Lynn Buzzard, pg. 2}