Conflict as an Opportunity
by Terry Shanahan, Northeast Regional Minister
A couple of years ago, I had the privilege to be at the retirement dinner for Dr. Haddon Robinson, distinguished professor of preaching at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Toward the end of that memorable celebration Dr. Robinson was asked how we might pray for him in his retirement. Paraphrasing, he said, “Pray that I don’t become a cynical old man. I have been involved in church all my life, at nine years old I was preaching to my cat. But it still baffles me how people in churches treat one another in the name of our Lord. Why is there so much quarreling in our churches?” He ended by saying that what would keep him from becoming cynical is that he has read the “Book” and he knows the ending.
Dr. Robinson’s question is answered for us in James 4:1–3
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
Wanting what WE want, quarreling and fighting continues in churches. Some churches have a long history of discord. It seems part of their DNA, if you will. I am thankful that our Conference has adopted as one of our guiding values A Culture of Peacemaking and Reconciliation. There can’t be too much emphasis placed on living in peace, and we must practice it in our daily lives.
Through John Kimball’s initiative and Lenn Zeller’s continued follow-through we now have dozens of folks in the CCCC trained in peacemaking principles. Several churches have sponsored Peacemaker Seminars or weekend retreats. Others have engaged in a preaching series on the subject. Still others have incorporated Peacemaking into their Bible study curriculum.
The Conference’s emphasis on peacemaking and reconciliation has borne much fruit, and has filled a great need. Often working alongside my wife Karlotta in this reconciliation work, I have had the privilege of seeing huge rifts resolved and Christ being glorified in the process. Not every reconciliation situation winds up being resolved. But I have observed that every situation does allow for the Gospel to be proclaimed, supporting Ken Sande’s teaching that conflict is a great opportunity to present Christ and allow Him to work in any given situation. We are all called to be people of peacemaking and reconciliation, which is the living out of the Gospel itself.
We cannot improve on David’s song of ascent:
How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!
It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe.
It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore. (Psalm 133)
