Uniqueness of the Church and Conflict

Consider how a typical corporation might be described.  “XYZ Inc. is a large organization of individuals engaged in commercial activities related to the manufacture and distribution of XYZ products and services.”  Now consider how the Bible describes the Church:

And God placed all things under His [Christ’s] feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way. (Ephesians 1:22-23, NIV)

The Church is described as the “body” of our Lord Jesus Christ and filled by the fullness of Him.  Not many corporations would describe themselves as being the “body” of the Chief Executive Officer nor that they were filled with all the fullness of him!  Such is the nature of the Church which operates in this physical world.  It is a unique entity with a unique leader -- the omnipotent, omniscient, Creator of all that exists.  This uniqueness creates some unusual factors in how the Church operates compared to a business entity.  As a result, conflict occurring in the Church has some unusual twists as well.
 

Unique Context of the Church

 The Church is an organization like no other.  It exists only because its founder, our Lord Jesus Christ, willed it to exist.  It is a spiritual entity which one cannot simply point to like an entry in the New York Stock Exchange. The Church is not the same as a local church fellowship.  For instance, my church is Roswell Street Baptist Church (RSBC).  While there are many believers like myself who worship and serve God there, RSBC is not the Church.  Likewise, the Church is not a building or a denomination.  It is the sum collection of born-again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the world and the Holy Spirit who indwells each believer.  Each person is a member of the Church because of his or her voluntary decision to trust in the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord.  This is the true church and its essential difference from other organizations.

The Church is in some ways like a business, specifically a not-for-profit business which pays no taxes and is concerned with using wisely whatever money is raised to further its cause.  In contrast, a commercial business is concerned with increasing revenues, decreasing expenses and taxes, and maximizing shareholder value.  While a commercial business is engaged in activities designed to sell and/or produce goods and services, the Church is engaged in activities to evangelize the lost and edify the disciples of Jesus Christ.  Revenue and profit are critical concerns for a business but have no relationship to the goals of the Church.  Profit realized by a business must be reinvested to some degree in the development of new goods, services, and markets in order for the business to continue.  The Church, on the other hand, invests in programs and people with the goal being life-change -- to conform its members to the image and character of Christ. A business carries out activities it deems necessary to accomplish its self-determined goals.  The Church’s goals and methods are determined by our Lord Jesus Christ. The mission of the Church and it’s strategies to attain them are fundamentally different in motivation, purpose, and method.  The Church has no requirement to make a certain amount of money in order to carry out its mission though as Hank Hanegraph of the Christian Research Institute has often said, “The gospel is free, but somebody has to put in the plumbing.”  So the unique purpose of the Church makes it more focused on the bottom line of a person’s heart than the bottom line of its balance sheet.
 

Unique Perceptions in the Church

There are two competing perceptions of how the Church should function.  One is the result of a “worldly” view of how things ought to be as opposed to a Biblical view.  The other is a matter of unrealistic expectations on the part of believers in how people in the ministry of the Church should behave.  Each of these perceptions sets up the Church for enormous conflict that is frequent and difficult to resolve.

Luke recorded Paul’s final words to the elders of the Church at Ephesus just prior to his journey back to Jerusalem.  Paul’s parting words contained a rather grim outlook for that local church fellowship. The Church at Ephesus had been on a very high spiritual plane but would undergo a time of strife and division.  These were some of his final comments:

Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.  I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.  Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.  So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. (Acts 20:28-31, NIV)

Paul warned the mature church that conflict was on its way.  The world was coming into the church and would bring “savage wolves” to divide the congregation.  Paul even stresses that member of their local fellowship would even start conflicts through distorted doctrine.  Paul’s message is ever so relevant to us today. Many individuals have entered the church saturated with a materialistic world view.  Poor Bible teaching, minimal emphasis on Bible teaching, and lack of interest on the part of the membership has caused a dearth of knowledge about the Biblical world view.  This creates enormous conflict as they expect the Church to be run like a business.  Consider these attitudes:

• “I give this much money to the church -- what do I get for my investment?”
• “The church is not growing -- fire the pastor and get a new one.”
• “We can’t talk about moral standards -- someone might get offended.”

When the Church allows a materialistic or evolutionary world view to infiltrate the congregation, conflict is going to emerge as this clashes with the Biblical world view.  The Biblical world view provides love for one another not self-centered love, edification not execution, and absolute truth not a relativistic morass.  The Bible provides the framework for the world view of the Church.  This Scriptural authority also means that it must not be run by opinion or democracy or philosophy.  It must be run consistent with the Word of God.  This both contributes to the development of conflict as well as makes a considerable difference in how conflict is handled.
 
The other major perception problem which is unique to the Church and creates conflict is the unrealistic expectations of the membership.  People in a local church fellowship, both Christians and non-Christians, tend to have a high spiritual standard for every person in the church (except themselves of course).  The staff members are held up to an even higher standard.  The pastor must be perfect.  Obviously, these expectations will not be met.  Josh McDowell stated that many people enter the church and “...check their brains out at the door.”  How could any human expect another human to be perfect?  But since one has dedicated his life to the ministry, then he must be perfect.  Every word is held up for scrutiny; every look is examined and judged; every action is measured for purity.  In this kind of “fish bowl” mentality, people will find many things to use in stirring up trouble.  While many people have high expectations of those in upper management, it pales in comparison to the view of clergy.

Lofty expectations also play into the traditions and values of a local church.  The “we’ve always done it this way” thinking that is found in a corporate setting is intensified in a local church.  Members attach Scriptural authority to long-standing values and practices.  When these practices are questioned or attempts are made to change them, individuals in the local church become incensed.  It appears to them that their “Christianity” is being called into question: “because the worship service has always had those traditional hymns -- we can’t do praise choruses!”, or “Sunday School has always been organized around age-groups not around life situations -- besides, what would people think if we had a divorce recovery group in the church?”  Rather than use a Scriptural basis for understanding and analyzing potential changes, people with unrealistic expectations use feelings, anger, and rhetoric to elevate the importance of their way.

These two factors -- worldly world views and unrealistic expectations -- make the Church rather unique in its nature, operation, and manner of conflict resolution.  The uniqueness means that the solutions cannot be found outside the Church or outside the basis for the Church.  What works for Xerox or IBM will not work for the Church.  While many principles for dealing with conflict can be used in the local church setting, they cannot address the unique perspective in the Church.  Custom solutions which are Biblically based are required to deal with the conflict in God’s family.
 

Understanding the Uniqueness of the Church

The question is raised then, “Do individuals in the Church really understand the unique context of the Church?” Most individuals in the Church recognize it as an organization different from a department store business or the local Optimist Club.  It is definitely viewed as something out of the ordinary.  This much is good because the Church is indeed an organization that is anything but ordinary.  On the other hand, it appears that in standard practice, many individuals do not operate any differently within the Church.  Political maneuvering, back-stabbing, apathetic responses, gossiping, embezzlement and many other practices seen in business are seen in the Church as well.  In employment, local churches routinely dismiss employees without cause (or without stated cause) or warning.  These things create conflict in an environment which naturally disdains conflict.  It becomes easier for the local church to ignore conflict and give in to worldly practices than to confront the issues.

Members of the Church should never treat one another in the ways noted above.  It is of paramount importance that we develop teaching ministries within the Church to address the behaviors that contrast or contradict a Biblical world view.  In the post-Christian age of America, local churches must actively pursue discipleship designed to strengthen the faith believers so that they can stand firm against the onslaught of temptation and relativism.  Believers must be taught to "walk by faith and not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7, NIV) both in the world and in the Church.  Our life must follow and be guided by the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ rather than the latest book author or celebrity-for-a-day.  The teaching ministry must overcome the mind set of individuals who spend the vast majority of their time in the world.  This major influence in the believer’s life must be overcome by the Church in ways that are creative, dynamic, and life-changing.
 

Our Creator God loves you and wants you to know Him! If you would like to contact this ministry for further information or questions, please send your e-mail to:
Email: ministryrequest1@WordTruth.Com
Web Site: WordTruth.Com

Copyright 5/23/2001, Randy Lariscy.