12 Truths for Living Faithfully Through Conflict

By Michael W. Caine, Former Regional Conference Minister

1. Conflict is not only inevitable - lived through faithfully, it can be a source of great healing power. Denied or pushed underground, conflict is the devil's play.
   
   
2. Real growth always hurts. If the church is afraid of pain, we will never grow.
   
   
3. We are not called to be the same. God created each of us peculiar or unique and then called us to live together faithfully.
   
   
4. God gathers you here not to do anything you please, but so that you might be a support and blessing to another and together accomplish more than you could apart.
   
   
5. Church is about transformation - of individuals, communities and the world.
   
   
6. Church doesn't work when church people try to make themselves better than others:
             It's not about defending yourself;
             It's not about converting others.
   
   
7. To be a great church member, be your best self in humility:
             None of us is all-knowing, always right or ever on top.
             This means "NO PUT-DOWNS" of yourself or others.
   
   
8. Turn the other cheek, walk the 2 nd mile - respond faithfully, rather than react blindly.
   
   
9. Speak the truth directly to one another, using the names by which we were baptized and which presumably God uses when we hear someone calling us by name.
   
   
10. Speak only for yourself - "I statements".
    
    
11. Finally, it's never about who's right/wrong, but about how we love one another.
    
    
12. That which you do to one another, you've done to Jesus - our witness.