At the church in southern California where I served as pastor for forty years we had a large Christian day school that went from preschool to eighth grade. The Christmas programs put on by the students (preschool, K-3rd grade, 4th-8th grade) were always excellent and we knew that for many parents attending their child’s program would be the only time when they would hear the Christmas message.
The reality was that rehearsals and preparations for the programs basically took over the sanctuary from late November through the middle of December. All the chancel furniture was removed and one hundred forty chairs were set up in the chancel. The chancel was set up for the rehearsals early Monday morning and it stayed that way throughout the week until Friday afternoon when the chairs were removed and the chancel furniture was put back for Sunday morning. Normally it all worked out just fine.
But one year the ninety-nine-year-old mother of a prominent member died in early December. My first thought was, “I am toast. No matter what happens, I will not survive this one unscathed.” If I tell the prominent member that the sanctuary is not available for her mother’s funeral, I am toast. If I tell the day school teachers that they are going to have to remove all the chairs and put the chancel furniture back an extra time, I am toast. I saw no way that this one was going to resolve easily and well.
But then the prominent member told me that she wanted to have a memorial service for her mother the following September on what would have been her mother’s 100th birthday. I told her, “That is a wonderful idea!” My heart said, “Thanks be to God!”
But I have to admit that most of the conflict situations that I had to deal with during my forty years of pastoral ministry did not work out so well or so easily. So I am very grateful to Lutheran CORE vice president and retired NALC pastor Brian Hughes for offering a free webinar entitled “Managing Church Conflicts without losing your passion, soul, or job” on Wednesday, November 20 from 11 AM – 12 noon Eastern Standard Time. Here is a link where you can sign up for the free webinar. I have signed up, and I encourage you to do the same. Brian writes regarding the webinar, “Pastors and other leaders are usually put in the crosshairs of church conflicts as ideas, needs, and personal desires jockey for position. Join us as we examine stages of conflicts, types of conflicts, and how to bring down the temperature or, when required, press through to a new consensus.”
