Solving Church conflict – 2
A case study
Church: Pakret church
Interviewer: Lers Thisayakorn
Interviewee: Ajan Jidkasem Kirapaj (Senior Pastor of the
Pakret Church in 1998)
Time: A.D. 1998
Cause of conflict:
The church feels that a Pastor should work full time and take good care of the members. The Pastor feels otherwise that it is justified to work bi-vocationally both as a Pastor and a Business executive. Paul set an example in the Bible as a tent maker himself. There is a theological conflict here. The Pastor felt that the church was rather innocent about the teaching in the Bible. The church leaders were not submitting to the authority of the Pastor. He felt that the way to resolve the matter was to start teaching and preaching the subject to the church. However, Church leaders felt that the pastor was not caring enough for the church. How could he take up an outside job while still pastoring the church?
How was the development?
The Pastor took three weeks off, except Sunday services, to pray while working part time for an automobile company. He started to preach on Paul’s Ministry as a bi-vocational minister. He also preached on the submission to the authority of God’s servant – the Pastor.
The response
On the other hand, the church started to look for a new Pastor. They also cut down the Pastor’s pay by 20 percent.
The result
Church attendance started to drop. Sermons were used as a tool to reprimand certain targeted leaders. Leaders were very uncooperative with the Pastor. The Pastor left the church after a three months bloody internal battle.
Solution
Could the conflict be better handled? The answer is a big “Yes”. First of all, the Pastor as leader of the church should not pick up an outside part time job in haste. This is especially true as it went against the will of the church. He should give time to the church to slowly understand and sympathize with his reason to have a second job. He should seek outside assistance to help teaching the church on the theology of bi-vocational pastoring. Time is a key word here. If the Pastor would have given more time to the church to digest the issue, the conflict would not be so severe. Church members did not see that it is Biblical for a Pastor take up a worldly job. This is not right. But it is also not necessary to go in for a confrontation. Time with biblical truth will melt the problem.
Biblical example Acts 15:36-41
The cause
Paul and Barnabas were in a conflict whether they should take Mark along in the journey
The response
Both insisted on their reason to or not to take Mark along. Paul did not think it was wise to take Mark because he had deserted them in Pamphylia. Barnabas, the gentler person, thought they should give Mark another chance to learn.
The way it was handled.
They had a sharp disagreement and parted with each other.
Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus. Paul chose Silas and left for Syria.
Solution
Could the conflict be better handled? The conflict looks similar to the Pakret church case. But there was not much time here for the conflict to resolve. But again, the Bible did not tell us of any personal bitterness arose from the conflict. Perhaps it was a good solution for them to part at that time.
The writer of this article was a senior Pastor of the Tabernacle Church during 1995 till 2001