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At church one sunday morning in British Columbia, a young mother approached evangelist Ron Susek. Her family wanted to begin attending the church, she said, but would he mind if they didn't join it?

"We've been through a church split, and we don't want any obligation or responsibility," she told him. "We want the freedom to walk away."

Susek could empathize with the wounded parishioner: he had reluctantly served as interim pastor after the split of a large church. He was so troubled by that experience that he collected his insights into what would become an influential church-split treatise: Firestorm (Baker, 1999).

The book serves as a resource for two organizations devoted to assisting churches on the verge of rupture: Firestorm Intervention and Restoration Ministry (FIRM—a division of Susek Evangelistic Association), and Peacemaker Ministries. Especially for churches not backed by denominational structures, such organizations can be lifesavers.

Susek identifies various factors contributing to church quarrels in Firestorm: destructive family backgrounds, resistance to authority, rapid church growth, and the "condition of the human heart," among others.

That last factor is the one Peacemaker Ministries emphasizes. Dave Edling, director of church relations for Peacemaker Ministries, says his organization tells troubled churches, "Your problem is not psychological. Your problem is sin."

"Disagreements begin," Edling says, "when the desires that battle within us, as described in James 4:1, lead to expectations of others—maybe an over-elevation of who we think we are, and what our rights are, and what we deserve to have."

Peacemaker Ministries uses Firestorm with the caveat that a chapter outlining the "psycho-social causes" of division rests on "secular, psychological views of mankind rather than a biblical doctrine of man," Edling says.

FIRM sees natural differences as the seeds of conflict. Those differences are not demonic or sinful, but sin attaches to them in the way people relate to one another. Then "our desires become grasping demands and idols of the heart," says Ed Peirce, national director of FIRM.

Besides Firestorm, Peacemaker also draws on The Peacemaker (Baker, 1997), a book by Ken Sande. Edling says it provides a biblical framework for dealing with all types of conflict. Describing conflict as an opportunity to glorify God, it prescribes resisting the temptation to either escape or attack. Instead, it encourages churches to go through the process of confession, repentance, and forgiveness.

Peacemaker Ministries assists churches through study of The Peacemaker, planned corporate repentance, interviews, and a follow-up report. Edling says the report surprises people because "it typically does not say, 'Go hang pastor X.' We try to live out what we believe. The church is not to force people into attack and escape responses."

Edling adds that churches can overcome material issues if key people can reconcile personally. That softens dialogue about the issues, setting an example for the flock.

The corporate model, by which so many churches operate, has contributed to congregational tensions, Edling says. In conflict, churches often apply business practices based on power and manipulation—"forcing people out, forcing people into escape responses, which forces people into attack responses."

Edling and his associate, Ted Kober, intervene in eight to ten church conflicts each year. They recommend resources for churches to resolve their problems, sometimes advising that they seek denominational help. Edling and Kober agree to get involved as a last resort. They have developed an advanced training practicum, "Intervening in Church Conflict," which helps to deliver the group's strategy to many more churches.

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May 2003, Vol. 47, No. 5