When the teachers in our village went on strike last year, it nearly tore our congregation apart.
Our congregation includes many teachers and a number of administrators and board of education members. Other church members work as librarians, nurses, and secretaries in the local schools. Naturally, the strike pitted teachers against the administration and the board of education.
During that time, each side sought to outmaneuver, undermine, and discredit the other. Some of our members were crossing picket lines in which other members were marching.
A teachers’ strike isn’t the only community event that can threaten a church’s unity, of course. Political campaigns, zoning variances, and business deals can all put parishioners from the same church on different sides.
As pastor to people on both sides, how can we keep the peace in the church? In our teachers’ strike, I learned some valuable lessons that I present here in the hope you’ll never have to use them.
Peacekeeping
When it became obvious a strike was imminent, I did some careful thinking. I wrote down and then vowed to abide by these simple rules.
Rule 1: Don’t take sides. In some cases when issues are of a clear moral nature, neutrality is improper for a Christian. But in this case neutrality was both possible and necessary. It allowed me to speak about faith and conduct without being put in either camp, but it wasn’t easy.
About three months before the strike, the superintendent of schools gave me a tour of the schools in the system. Along the way he complained about the unreasonableness of the teachers, many of whom were in my congregation. Some of what he said offended me, but I said nothing.
Later, when some of these teachers criticized the unreasonableness of the administration and board, I felt ready to chime in.
I realized, however, that my people were on “the other side,” too. To take sides would severely undercut my pastoral ministry and authority in this congregation and village. I needed to minister to everyone involved.
So I refrained from making comments about labor issues. Consequently, I was free to point out that no matter which side of the issue our members found themselves on, they must act like Christians, especially in forgiving those who sin against them.
Rule 2: Stay calm. Any crisis situation initially appears worse than it is. Some people actually benefit from making the crisis loom frighteningly large, and I didn’t want to help them.
During the strike, several people expressed deep concern about the continued unity of the congregation. Some worried that friendships would sever, others that attendance would drop markedly, others that our congregation’s warmth would turn cold. One person seemed convinced the congregation would dissolve in a cloud of bickering.
Troublesome comments such as these tempted me to worry. Yet people were counting on me, their pastor, to demonstrate leadership in the time of crisis. It was not a time to panic. I recalled the simple truth of faith-that Jesus is Lord. I needed to trust that the Lord would preserve the unity of this congregation for his glory.
Rule 3: Don’t act alone. A few days after my tour with the superintendent, the teachers’ chief negotiator, anticipating a strike, asked permission for the teachers to use the church to hold a public-information meeting if, in fact, a strike developed. I took the issue to Session, the congregation’s governing board of elders that technically approves all such requests. Although many routine requests for building use are handled in the office, this one, I felt, was different and needed to go to the Session.
The Session approved the use, but the important point is this: a potentially divisive decision became a shared decision of the entire church leadership, not merely mine. That would save me later when I was accused of siding with the teachers when I let them use the building.
Rule 4: Think before speaking. Anything you do or say can-and probably will-be used against you at one time or another, so try to say nothing in anger.
As emotions ran high the evening before the strike, the board of education held its own public information meeting. As I’d feared, the meeting turned chaotic. People shouted unkind words to the board and superintendent. Embarrassed and angry, I wondered how adults could conduct themselves in such a manner.
Later, church members asked me my thoughts about the meeting. I said I thought some of the supposed adults acted like “briars,” which in our part of the world translates as “ignorant rednecks”-hardly the way to win members and pastor a church. I immediately regretted the remark. Better to have swallowed hard, prayed for God’s grace, and counted to ten before speaking.
Rule 5: Expect some no-win situations. In the emotionally charged atmosphere of the strike, misunderstandings abounded. Many times patience was the only course of action.
Some people in our congregation objected to the teachers’ association’s use of our building. They believed we were lending support to the strike by opening our doors. Time and again I explained that nothing of the sort was intended, that there was no other place to meet in town, that the Session viewed the request in the same light as a request from the Lions Club. My words made little impact; people continued to disagree.
People not only disagreed, they misquoted me. I found myself repeating such litanies as, “That is not the case . . .” “I never said . . .” and “That was not intended . . .”.
I found myself in no-win situations. Since our building lies across the street from the schools, ours were the closest available rest rooms for the picketing teachers. Naturally, in allowing the teachers to use the rest rooms, I was criticized for supporting the strike. On the other hand, sometimes the building needed to be locked when I went calling in the afternoons. So I left a note on our door: PUBLIC RESTROOMS ARE ALSO AVAILABLE AT THE MUNICIPAL BUILDING ACROSS THE STREET.
I still got in trouble. Striking teachers and their supporters asked, “What’s wrong with the teachers’ using our rest rooms?” Those on the administration side said, “I really don’t think we should be supporting the teachers like that!” It was an interesting week, to say the least.
Peacemaking
Fortunately, the strike lasted only a week. Nonetheless, our congregation had gone through the grinder. Members had hurt each other with tactless comments. One of the teachers, for example, had taken my secretary to task over her views of the strike. Some members still feared the fragmentation of church unity. Even though by the following Friday it seemed as if the strike had never occurred, I knew the work of peacemaking had only begun. Specifically, I needed to take at least three steps.
Step 1: Preaching on unity and forgiveness. I preempted my preaching schedule in order to meet the problem head-on. Everybody knew what had happened, and I felt it needed to be addressed from the pulpit. I preached a sermon that acknowledged the difficulties of the strike but also appealed to our family of faith to live by God’s rule of forgiveness and so to act as a witness to our village.
Step 2: Calling on my people. More than preaching was needed. For example, one church member of the board of education remained hurt about the Session’s decision to let the teachers use the church building. “That was my church!” he exclaimed with deep disappointment and a sense of betrayal.
One evening I stopped by, and we had a long talk. I continue to see him in the community, and I visited him and his wife during her recent surgery. Since the wound has yet to heal, continued pastoral care is needed. Being with people, listening, absorbing their hurt, letting them know we care-these are the pastoral activities that dominate following a difficult spell.
Step 3: Getting involved with the community. Recently I agreed to be a chaplain for the school’s sports program. I also take part in a pastors’ breakfast group that meets regularly with the superintendent of schools. By maintaining access to both teachers and administrators, I hope to be a cause of peace in my congregation and village.
In spite of fears to the contrary, our congregation continues to be healthy and growing. I believe these rules and steps helped preserve our unity-as well as my sanity.
-Timothy M. McQuade
New Jersey Presbyterian Church
Carlisle, Ohio
Copyright © 1989 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
