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— Matthew 5:43-48 Resource Archive: Newsletter Archives |
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The RevWriter Resource (ISSN 1545-939X) A publication of RevWriter Resources, LLC June 2011 Volume 10, Number 6 Susan M. Lang, Editor and Publisher <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< Dear Friends: My work as a church consultant grew out of the fact that in 2002 I wrote a book for the Augsburg Fortress Congregational LEADER Series titled Our Community: Dealing with Conflict in Our Congregation. After the book was published, I was asked by church leaders to conduct workshops, seminars, and conversations on the issues of conflict and healthy and unhealthy communications in congregational life. One of the things I've discovered in my work is that church leaders and members don't like to talk about, or even acknowledge, conflict in their congregations. Several years ago, I was even told by a pastor that he'd forbidden his leadership and members to even use the word conflict in the church. He thought not "allowing" use of the word was a good way to keep conflict from entering his church. In reality, he'd given the unspeakable word great power. If you can't even name it, it has power over you. Besides, even act of growth in personal and corporate life generally involves the feelings and realities of conflict. In this month's article, Mark Bredin gives your leadership an opportunity to reflect upon how your congregation might cultivate a culture of peace in which people are respected and relationships are nurtured. In doing so, he offers another lens by which to examine life and interactions within your congregational system. Blessings for your journey, RevWriter Sue Lang sue@revwriter.com If you need a leadership or other retreat facilitator, contact Pastor Sue Lang at sue@revwriter.com or call 215-453-8128. While Sue does have a list of previous workshop topics, she can create a retreat or workshop to meet the needs of your congregational leadership. Sue can also develop group leadership/learning events for a cluster of congregations that would like to increase their learning capacity by interacting with others and discovering what they are doing in their ministries. Contact her to learn more about congregational cluster workshops! Additional information on Sue's consulting work is also located at: http://www.revwriter.com/congregational/churchconsultant/index.shtml <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:17) <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< Theme: Creating Congregational Cultures of Peace Who would benefit from this issue? Pastors, church staff, church council members and church leadership, and all members of the congregation. Table of Contents 1 - Devotion: Matthew 5:43-48 by Susan M. Lang 2 - Creating Cultures of Peace by Mark Bredin 3 - Resources 4 - Announcements 5 - Publications Still Available 6 - Subscribe/Unsubscribe Info <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< 1 - Devotion by Susan M. Lang Read: Matthew 5:43-48 "But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous." (vv.44-45) One day, a pastor I know received a phone call at home from a parishioner who had stopped by the church to retrieve something. Upon entering the building he had quickly discovered that the church had been broken into. He also discovered some vandalism in the form of graffiti in the church hall. The pastor quickly drove over to the church so the member would not be alone when the police arrived. He arrived to find the man agitated over both the break-in and the graffiti. "What are we going to do about this?" asked the man who was obviously upset. "We need to begin with praying for those individuals who did this," my friend responded to the visibly stunned member. It's understandable that when something like a break-in and vandalism occurs there is elevated fear. However, responding out of fear and anxiety is not how God wants us to react. Instead, Jesus tells us that God wants his children to imitate God's own behavior of a boundless love which excludes no one. That can be a hard thing to do when people purposely commit violent acts against us. But knowing of the depth of God's love we can seek to root our actions in that love and we can be empowered by it. Copyright © 2011 Susan M. Lang <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< 2 - Creating Cultures of Peace by Mark Bredin "If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one." (Matthew 18:15) In this verse, Jesus suggests that there will always be conflicts in churches. So, in the context of good theology, we must cultivate habits to deal with conflict that don't result in division in which people feel abandoned. In other words, we must cultivate a culture of peace. How can our churches become cultures of peace? If our theology is biblical, we should be mindful of God's mercy. If Christians don't practice this theology, they are not Beatitude People (see Matthew 5:7) for their habits are not mercy-centered and peacemakers are mercy-centered. Your Church What kind of church do you belong to? Could you say: "In our church peace is at the top of the agenda"? Jesus says it should be. The problem is that we miss the peace-centeredness of the Bible.(1) Peace in the Bible in Hebrew is shalom which means: The state of soundness or flourishing in all dimensions of existence in our relationship with God, our relationship with each other, our relationship with nature, and our relationship with ourselves.(2) Shalom results from living faithfully and responding to God's will.(3) When there is no peace in our church, we must confess that we are failing God. How can we develop in our churches habits of repentance and listening--which go together? Jesus' Peace Surprisingly, Jesus says that he brings conflict and not peace (see Matthew 10:34-36). The peace in these verses denotes the "peace" of the world which protects the powerful by inducing fear among It should not be missed that Jesus' life brings forth the wrath of those who depend upon false peace. The leaders' response to Jesus reveals how the world's peace is sustained by violence and division. Jesus must die to keep the false peace (see John 11:50). Our churches are ingrained in habits of ignoring conflict and accepting false peace. Like the rest of society we hope conflict will pass away. History of conflicts exemplifies how divisions occur due to a failure to face up to misunderstood offenses. Jesus knows that such shallow peace doesn't last long knowing that ignored conflict blows up in our faces. This is why Jesus tells us to confront the conflict in Matthew 18:15. Therefore, we must give high priority to transforming the conflict within our churches thereby moving from false peace to true peace. Triangling Triangling is where someone complains to a third party, and does not speak to the other directly, therefore treating them like an enemy.(4) A distraught friend of mine was told by a church member that other members in the church didn't like her.(5) This was sad news to her that she discovered through another member. As commanded in Matthew 18:15, my friend approached the person who she had been told initiated this situation but she denied she had said anything of the sort and that "a mountain was being made out of a molehill." As taught in Matthew 18:16-17, my friend then went to the minister. Alas, the minster felt the whole situation should be forgotten and that she should "grow up and not be so sensitive." She felt she had been ignored and was unable to remain in that church because she had been told that she was disliked. In this situation of conflict one person told others of her dislike for my friend and ended up creating a support network for her dislike. This is an example of triangling. The minister, like many of us, wished to ignore the conflict. My friend became a scapegoat who left the church feeling bitter, hurt, and angry. The church had failed to be a culture of peace. Rather, it had mimicked the world's way of dealing with conflict, creating a false peace. It put all the blame on one person who, consequently, decided to leave. The church did not exemplify living as Beatitude People but instead were people rooted in securing allies against others thereby causing hurt rather than their call to witness to and spread the love of Jesus Christ. Good Habits Athletes and soldiers undergo severe training to gain the victories they desire. As people who declare "Jesus is Lord" we, too, must be single-minded and pursue victory that brings God's peace on earth. We must cultivate good habits that reflect mercy and peacemaking. This means practically in our churches we must find creative ways to make contact with fellow brothers and sisters. We must avoid using the culture of the world as an excuse to avoid contact with each other. As Beatitude People, we look to be blessed but also to bring blessings. In the following lists are characteristics of violence in contrast to those of blessing:(6) Structures of Violence Structures of Blessing These habits of violence define how we respond to conflict and how they lead from conflict to division. For this reason the former director of the Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution, Vern Neufeld Redkop, comments: "Reconciliation can be understood as a movement from mimetic structures of violence to mimetic structures of blessing."(7) Jesus exemplifies this movement from violence to blessing when he implicitly says that we must approach conflict with openness, creativity, generosity, with a view to maximizing options and, ultimately, to restoring life (Matthew 18:15-17). Jesus in other words is leading people away from avoiding contact with the person they are in conflict with (compare John 4). In considering habits of blessing I am reminded of an incident in the early Church. In Acts 10 we are told how two people, Peter and Cornelius, separated from each other by bigotry and hate, were brought together. The consequences of this fresh encounter enabled them and their communities to grow towards a truer understanding of God and each other. Overwhelmingly, this meant seeing God as one who desires that divisions between different peoples are broken down. The history of conflict resolution informs us that where dividing walls are dismantled and peoples meet, the true nature of bigotry is uncovered and shown to be the lie it is. Excitingly misunderstandings and stereotypes are replaced with true understanding that leads to new opportunities for communities.(8) Mercy On Monday morning, October 2, 2006, a gunman entered a one-room Amish school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania killing five and injuring many others.(9) The blood was not even dry on the schoolhouse floor when Amish parents brought words of forgiveness to the family of the one who had slain their children. Within a week of the murders, Amish forgiveness was a central theme in more than 2,400 news stories around the world. This surprising act of Amish forgiveness challenges us towards deeper exploration. Reflection Questions *What motivated the Amish parents do this? Below is a list of some of the most common causes of division in one church. * Preacher gives too much personal information. For Further Thought *List your own experiences of what causes conflicts leading to division in your context. *Examine your experiences of conflict using the lists of the Structures of Violence and Structures of Blessings? Where does your congregation fall? *What habits can be cultivated to handle these situations and the above?
Notes (1) I recommend Willard Swartley's Covenant of Peace: The missing Peace in the New Testament which does much to compensate for the failure of New Testament scholars to see the importance of peace. (2) Marshall, 13. (3) Bredin, 19. (4) Kreider, 63. (5) In addition to this real life situation I recommend Susan Lang’s Our Community: Dealing with Conflict in Our Congregation where she describes both healthy and unhealthy conflict by giving real-life examples. (6) Vern Nuefekld Redekop, 256 has structures of violence and blessed but I have preferred the word "habits." (7) Vern Neufeld Redekop, 257. (8) Testimonies of those when encountering people from different communities while at the centre for Reconciliation at Corrymeela in Northern Ireland were confronted with their inherited bigotry illustrates my point. See http://www.corrymeela.org/ (9) http://gurmeet.net/spiritual/stories-of-forgiveness/. For further stories of reconciliation and forgiveness see http://www.theforgivenessprojects.com. See also Shane Claiborn, The Irresistible Revolution. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2006. Copyright © 2011 Mark Bredin Dr. Mark Bredin has been Visiting Lecturer in Theology at St Philip’s Theological College in Tanzania. He has worked as a Care Assistant for people with profound learning disabilities. He is a freelance writer and tutor in Biblical Studies for St John’s College, Nottingham, England Extension Studies. He has published and edited various books, articles and study materials including a distance learning module on Transforming Conflict. His most recent book is Ecology of the New Testament (Biblica Press, 2010). He is a former Teaching Fellow at St Andrew’s University, Scotland. He is active in his local Baptist Church. <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< 3 - Resources Bredin, Mark, True Beauty: Finding Grace in Disabilities. Grove Spirituality Series. Grove Books, Cambridge, 2007. Kraybill, Donald B., Steven M. Nolt, and David L. Weaver-Zercher. Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2010 Kreider, Alan & Eleanor, and Paul Widjaja, A Culture of Peace: God’s Vision for the Church. Intercourse, PA: Good Books, 2005. Lang, Susan, Our Community: Dealing with Conflict in Our Congregation. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2002. Lederach, John Paul. The Little Book of Conflict Transformation. Intercourse, PA: Good Books, 2003. Marshall, Chris, The Little Book of Biblical Justice. Intercourse, PA: Good Books, 2005. Neufeld Redekop, Vern, From Violence to Blessing. Ottawa, Canada: Novalis, 2002. Rouse, Richard W. Fire of Grace: The Healing Power of Forgiveness. Minneapolis, MN: 2005. Stassen, Glen, Just Peacemaking: Ten Practices for Abolishing War. Pilgrim Press, 2004, 2nd edition. Swartley, Willard, Covenant of Peace: The Missing Peace in the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2006. <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< 4 - Announcements Financial Contributions Welcomed Costs to produce and manage The RevWriter Resource will increase for me this year as the subscriber base continues to grow. Writers of devotions and main articles have always been, and will continue to be, paid. In the past, this has come out of my personal writing income, but as this ministry continues to grow, the cost to me will also continue to increase. In the effort to maintain the ministry provided through the publication of The RevWriter Resource without requiring a subscriber's fee, I am now welcoming contributions from subscribers. Contributions may be sent to: RevWriter Resources, LLC Or through Paypal to sue@revwriter.com Most importantly, I appreciate your prayers as this ministry continues to grow during its nineth year in publication. Blessings, Sue <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< 5 - Publications Still Available +The Greatest Story Leader Guide by Susan M. Lang and Thomas M. Lang +John (Learner Guide and Leader Guide) by Susan M. Lang (Augsburg +Our Community: Dealing with Conflict in Our Congregation by Susan M. +Welcome Forward: A Field Guide for Global Travelers by Susan M. Lang 6-0002-0186-9). A CD of original music by composer Tim Hansen accompanies the book. Visit http://www.revwriter.com for a complete list of publications that Sue has authored. 6 - Subscribe/Unsubscribe Info I maintain a strict privacy policy and will not sell or share my subscription list. The RevWriter Resource is sent to you at no cost. If you know of someone who might be interested in receiving The RevWriter Resource, you are welcome to forward it. Please do so only in its entirety, including my copyright information. If someone has forwarded The RevWriter Resource to you, I invite you to subscribe. To do so, visit my website at: http://www.revwriter.com/congregational/resource.shtml#signup Copyright 2002-2011 RevWriter Susan M. Lang. All rights reserved. For permission to quote or reprint, please contact me for written consent at sue@revwriter.com or The Rev. Sue Lang www.revwriter.com
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