They say death and taxes are life's only certainties. You can add conflict to that list.
As a small group leader, your hope is that your group will never deal with conflict. Yet if you have a healthy and open small group, conflict is bound to occur. So, how do you deal with conflict within a small group?
Bill Donahue and Dr. Henry Cloud continue their yearlong Groups That Grow small group leadership series on CCN by helping leaders learn how to handle the inevitable conflict that will occur in their groups.
Engaging in Healthy Conflicts in Groups provides practical tools to help small groups pastors and volunteer leaders understand how to implement the biblical mandate for reconciliation within small groups — and the church at large.
“Processing conflict in healthy ways is a spiritual formation discipline of sorts. It forces members to lovingly express pain and disappointment while seeking to reconcile differences and build trust,” Dr. Cloud says. “ When navigated well, conflict resolution can build character and set the stage for an emotionally healthy group.”
Cloud and Donahue will help leaders:
- Identify the root causes of group conflict
- Clarify the biblical ground rules for having a good fight
- Understand the role of the group leader in conflict
- Understand the difference between conflict resolution and reconciliation
- Discover what groups can do when conflicts cannot be resolved
Help leaders discover that conflicts can actually be healthy for their groups!
Dr. Henry Cloud is a clinical psychologist, international speaker, and best selling author. He is the co-host of the nationally broadcast “New Life Live” radio program. He co-founded the Minirth-Meier Clinic West and served with Dr. John Townsend as the clinic's co-director for nine years. Dr. Cloud is the author of Changes That Heal . With Dr. Townsend, he co-authored the best selling Boundaries series, How People Grow, Safe People, and What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do .
Bill Donahue is the executive director of Small Group Ministries for the Willow Creek Association. He is the author of Leading Life-Changing Small Groups, and with Russ Robinson the coauthor of The 7 Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry, Building a Church of Small Groups, and Walking the Small Group Tightrope. He also teaches at several seminaries and has written and edited many small group studies, including the Interactions Series, the New Community Series and the Bible 101 Series.
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