The Pastor as a Manager of Conflict in the Church

Conflict, such a real part of everyday life, has not by-passed the church and its leaders. Traditionally, however, clergymen have not dealt effectively with it. Successful management of conflict requires administrative skills and a considerable knowledge of organizational strategies, neither of which has generally been given very high priority. Because the church is so vulnerable to conflict today, the creative handling of controversy is no longer an option but a necessity. The formal study of conflict is a relatively recent academic undertaking. In fact, The Journal of Conflict Resolution was first published in the spring of 1957. Although work has been going on in Europe since World War I1 to develop a science of peace and conflict research, it is generally true that there, as in America, "the findings of modern conflict analysis have not yet been applied to the church." ' The turbulence of social change in the 1960s swept the churches of America into experiences of conflict which many were illprepared to handle. Out of necessity arose an eclectic search for appropriate coping tools, as inquiry was made of the behavioral and social sciences, organizational research, and labor-managementconflict studies. In recent years, a science of conflict management (moving beyond elementary human relations principles) has taken its first tottering steps in the church.'