Personal Narrative: Serving Conflict

1. Church discipline starts with the leader of the church, then followed by the whole church: Paul saw that it's necessary for him to write the letter to Corinthians with a purpose to not humiliating them, but to warn them just as a good father warns his beloved children (1 Corinthians 4:14). I believe, as a Pastor/elder/leader in Church, we could learn from Paul concerning this point. This example

Pastor Ken Richards response to the crisis should be to apologize and tell the Session's group he would seek after the members that left and seek God for a message for the congregation. He was doing his own thing without seeking God for what the congregation need, however, the congregants should have known his style of preaching before they hired him.

To join this group from the first place, I used my ethical appeal to gain the group leader’s trust by showing how I’m willing to commit myself and my time for the church. I also went to every activities that our church hosts such as, Wednesday night worship, Friday night bible study, Saturday night choir practice, and Sunday worship service. From the very beginning, I knew that spending every weekend in church; practicing song will not be as fun comparing to those who spend their weekend at park, beach, lake, movie, and shopping. I also

Within a few months of searching, my church found a pastor who was previously a youth pastor in Washington D.C. I, being the only female leader, went out of my way to try and induct him into our youth group. Early on we had a conversation where I shared what worked in the youth group as what didn’t. For the first few months we had a growing pastor-student relationship. However as he became more comfortable he began to change things to make the youth group more like his inner city youth group. I lead by example and embraced the changes until I realized those changes were hurting the youth group. It was then that me and the male leaders got together to come up with several things we could do ourselves to solve the emerging problems as well as come up with a list of things we would like to address with out new pastor. We sent a representative to our pastor to make compromises so that both parties were working together for the good of our youth group. The situation is beginning to slowly improve because the me and the other leaders were able to problem-solve, compromise, and share with our new

The sacred partnership between a congregation and pastor is not happenstance but rather a holy arrangement orchestrated by an omniscient God. Thus, I invite you to joyfully and lovingly enter into this covenant with your new pastor, realizing that this moment in time was actually predestined in eternity, even before the

I am a part of the Wesleyan Singers at North Carolina Wesleyan College. Our group performs Christian culture music and it was my first time I ever sang for church. I had a wonderful privilege to learn about Christian culture after I became a part of this group. This small group consists of fifteen people and I am one of the two tenors. Every year we have been doing lots of performance inside college but singing in a church, in front of large number of spiritual people was my first time. we performed at Wilson, North Carolina. It was at the Wesleyan Singers Director’s church named First United Methodist Church. There were lots of people but none of them were teenagers, we could only see old spiritual people and a very few children. This was my first time ever being inside a church and being a part of the choir that was going to perform felt like a great privilege.

It is an honor to lead God’s people in worship and leaders of worship must be faithful in what God desires them to do. Steven Brooks, author of Worship Quest: An Exploration of Worship Leadership, has said, “The primary question to be asked by those being called to worship leadership should be: Which worship leadership role—Worship Leader, Song Leader, Worship Artist, or Worship Pastor—is God calling me to fulfill?” Each of these roles is a specific worship leadership role of which God calls people. Understanding God’s call is of vital importance in order to successfully fulfill that call (Brooks, 106.) As people who God chose to give musical ability to, it is our job to use discernment to establish what he has called us to do with our talents, and how we can use our talents to draw people in to his

If a situation not handled in the right matter, the issue will cause a conflict such as rebellion between the Pastor and the Associate Pastor. This could cause a problem between the congregants because most people in the church are family. The confrontation that could have been handled differently could cause a split in the church or a declination in membership depending on how people deal with chastisement.

The mentoree could not respond to the problem because of limitations as an associate pastor and not a member. The mentoree noticed that the mentor/pastor for 38 years at this church knows the flock. The mentor began to share with the mentoree why he smiles so much and say so little. After having three strokes and brain surgery and still moving at the age of 84, he says, people will be people and if Jesus’s crucifixion could not change some of their ways and attitude, admittedly, he states, he cannot. The mentor says, he cast the people and their disobedient ways to God and continue to teach and preach the word of God. He also stated he was glad my husband and self was there to help him in the church and learn ministry and

The issue of who you as a church, should have speak, has been an issue for many churches. Often, people do not know when to draw the line with who they should and shouldn’t have speak in their church. There are some obvious reasons why a person would not be qualified to speak in churches, such as sins of immorality and preaching things that contradict the gospel.1 But, what should you do if for example, a speaker has a different music standard than what your church has? Should you not allow them to come speak at your church, or should you allow them to speak at your church? In this case it depends on the kind of music they would play at your church, or if the speaker would push the music that you disagree with at your church. If the speaker

Chapter 14 clearly teaches about understanding and knowing the boundaries of both personal and organizational loyalties. This is a critical area of responsibility that if taken lightly can derail a pastor and his ability to effectively lead a congregation through the adaptive process to a place of optimal functionality and change. “To better understand yourself as a system, examine three circles of your loyalty: Colleagues, Community and Ancestors.” The Church leader's ability to effectively map his organization’s, loyalties enable the adaptive leader to better assess from which direction a problem or issue can best be approached in terms of influence and impact. Likewise, it is important to prioritize your loyalties

Gentle restore does not always happen in situations of conflict. Overlooking situation is sometime okay. As believers we are constituted in brotherly love and subject by the church to discipline. Bible tells us in Matthew 18:14-17 how Jesus laid out this three-step sequence for corrections of our erring ways. “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican”

We have since been blessed with a new pastor and he seems to be receptive to him and especially since the church has no longer the need to invite the young minister back to preach. This was a situation that the deacon in training got more upset at the church for not siding with him and so it seems that he had a temper tantrum because he could not get his

I remember writing a play for the Church, and even up to the day of, 30 minutes prior to us going live, the actors could not remember their placement or their lines. It was so frustrating, but I gave it over to the Lord, because it was nothing else I could do, and when I tell you they did amazing. It was so beautiful to see that what God had given me in a vision come to pass. When I moved out the way, God made sure the play was impactful and Christian excellence prevailed. Leaders must know when to step aside. When things are not going right, just give them over to the Lord. The same way Nehemiah did. Every time his enemies were rose up against him, he went into prayer and laid his burdens at the feet of the

They say it says “choose among yourselves”, ignoring the rest of the scripture and the context in which it fits. Their power to discipline as a congregation is based on 1Co 5:4-5 “In the name of our Lord Jesus