What Ministry Disagreements Are You Hiding?

Have you ever heard these famous last words – “We’re just not going to go there!”?  In a tense conversation between two people, “the issue” happens to come up, and one of the two blurts that out. “We’re just not going to go there!” Because, going there would result in a larger and longer conversation, (argument) that neither of the two want to engage in at the moment. So what happens? The issue gets tabled, swept under the rug, dismissed, until the next time it comes up, because it’s never gotten resolved. 

What issues are there in your ministry that you are not addressing? Are there disagreements that you ignore, or worse, deny? Are there issues in your 200church that have been put on the “do not talk about” list? You know, they have not gone away, you’ve just hidden them. And like unpaid balances, the longer you wait to pay them off, the more they will end up costing you.

What we are talking about this week at 200churches.com is disagreement among ministry leaders. In your 200church, you may be the only paid staff member, but you have ministry leaders, deacons, elders, volunteers, etc. What happens when one person wants to do it one way, and another person wants to do it another way? How does a situation like that get resolved?

In too many churches, people try to keep the peace, so they shove it under the rug and forget about it. They agree to… nothing. They just avoid the issue because it might cause conflict, and that is not good in a church setting. (more on that next week!) But those disagreements ferment. They spoil. They strain relationships, squelch creativity, and foment discord. If left under the rug for too long, people walk on opposite ends of the rug and division is created.

People may not resolve their disagreements because they are afraid or insecure. Often, however, it’s because they don’t know how. They've not seen it modeled in their homes, businesses, communities, or churches. So they punt.

In Episode 27 of the 200churches Podcast this week, we talk about Ten Steps To Resolve Any Disagreement In Your Ministry. These are steps to take to pull the disagreement out from under the rug, and finally deal with it. Between today and Wednesday, would you do two things?

1. Would you take a few moments and make a short list of the disagreements that are still active and unresolved in your ministry?
2. Would you send us questions on this topic? Either in the comments section at the end of this post, or at www.speakpipe.com/200churches, where you can leave us a voice mail. We would love to hear from you. Any questions we receive by noon on Tuesday, July 16 we will address on the podcast.

You’ll hear from us on Wednesday’s podcast!