10. Conflict is an opportunity

I am many things, but naïve is not among them. The course I recommend is fraught with peril, and conflict is certain. But as Ken Sande points out in The Peacemaker, conflict is an opportunity to glorify God.

Conflict will emerge, first, when congregations merge and countless decisions must be made. Who will be on the new session? What will the service times be? What members will be stuck with the longer commute? Which members are used to always getting their way, and might lose that privilege should a new group of elders come in?

These are the petty conflicts, common to every Church, and while they will consume Churches for a year or several, they will surely get settled and be (more or less) forgotten. In the short run, they will suck all the oxygen out of the room, but in the long run won’t matter much.

Conflict will emerge, second, when pastors must learn to cooperate with one another, especially in pulpit ministry. Who will get the main show (I mean the morning service)? Who will be stuck with the less well-attended matinee (I mean the evening service)? Will the two men speak frankly and respectfully about each other’s preaching, with a desire to build up each other and the congregation, or launch a war over the members’ affections?

Pastoral ministry is one long, enormous temptation to self-aggrandizement, and we have innumerable traditions which only facilitate it. (Can anyone tell me why Church vans have the pastor’s name written on the side?) Maybe the oft-invoked proverb about iron sharpening iron might actually see some use. Put two egomaniacs in a room and a fight is inevitable. Put two egomaniacs who have the Holy Spirit into a room, and maybe, just maybe, they will both grow in grace. (The odds of that will double if their elders actually care about their Spiritual growth, by the way.)

I am many things, but naïve is not among them. The current state of the OPC has its strengths and problems, and my recommended path will address those problems only to create new problems. But those new problems are not, by God’s grace and the power of the Spirit, insurmountable.

Conflict is an opportunity to glorify God. It’s time for the OPC to take advantage of it.