Issue No. 37 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting reviews another book and a bucket this week as we look at the biblical principle of peacemaking. According to Peacemaker’s “Slippery Slope,” there are three escape responses practiced by people who don’t want to resolve a conflict: denial, flight or suicide. This is an important eNews and an important book. (Note: to read the reviews of the last 36 books, send your team members to my Buckets Blog at www.JohnPearsonAssociates.com.
When you fire your next employee, will she sue you? A vendor didn’t fulfill a contract. Should you take him to court? A colleague owes you money—but disputes the amount. Jane won’t serve on a committee with Hank over something that happened three years ago. Conflict, at times, seems almost epidemic—even in Christian organizations, churches and companies led by Christians.
Thank God for Peacemaker Ministries! Founded in 1982 under the auspices of the Christian Legal Society, the mission of Peacemaker Ministries is to equip and assist Christians and their churches to respond to conflict biblically. President Ken Sande summarizes the Christian peacemaking process with the “Four G’s.” Glorify God (1 Cor. 10:31); Get the log out of your own eye (Matt. 7:5); Gently restore (Gal. 6:1); and Go and be reconciled (Matt. 5:24).
Make no mistake, to stay out of court and to ultimately resolve small and large conflicts biblically, you will need Ken Sande’s book sooner or later. Order The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict. The small cost of the book will save you huge costs later. “A Peacemaker’s Checklist” (seven pages) in the appendix is worth the price of the book.
Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. How should we use conflict as an opportunity to demonstrate the love and power of Jesus? (See page 21.)
2. When is it appropriate for a Christian to go to court? (See page 279.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Insights from the Management Buckets Workshop Experience
When you begin to implement the tactics and tools in each of the 20 Management Buckets, you’ll find that you must integrate a key core value across all of the buckets: conflict resolution. Conflict touches The Culture Bucket, The People Bucket, The Volunteer Bucket, The Board Bucket, The Team Bucket and The Crisis Bucket frequently.
We recommend you include a conciliation clause in many of your documents, including employment agreements, volunteer agreements, staff handbooks, board standing policy manuals, and vendor/consulting contacts (where the other parties are Christians).
According to Peacemaker Ministries, “One way to ensure that conflicts related to contract relationships will be resolved in a biblical manner rather than in court is to include a conciliation clause in the contract itself.” The Institute for Christian Conciliation (a division of Peacemaker Ministries) recommends specific language for a conciliation clause. The organization has extensive resources on peacemaking on their website at www.Peacemaker.net.
Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.The Culture Bucket. Is conflict resolution a core value here?
2. Have you ever been aware of a situation that required a biblically-based conflict resolution process? What happened?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Last week we hosted lifelong learners at our Management Buckets Workshop Experience (two days) and the Nonprofit Board Workshop (one day) at the scenic Blue Lantern Inn in Dana Point, Calif. Dates for future workshops will be announced in June. If your organization would like to co-host a workshop, please email me this month.
Download the Management Buckets brochure
PS. Click “Forward Email” below to recommend this free eNews to a colleague.
