Thursday, January 3, 2008

Welcome!

We're delighted that you've found our blog! In time this site will offer an extensive array of resources for church leaders and members who are seeking biblical solutions to the conflicts that threaten to tear their congregations apart.

Every answer, recommended book and link on this site will come from a thoroughly conservative, evangelical perspective. The Bible is God's inspired, inerrant source of truth for living a life that is pleasing in His sight, for individual believers as well as local congregations. For more information regarding our core values and beliefs go to our official ministry website, Building Healthy Churches.

The members of the Building Healthy Churches® team pledge to answer your questions as quickly and thoroughly as possible. As this blog grows, some topics will have been covered by earlier postings, and we'll direct you to them. If your questions have not been adquately addressed by our initial response, please feel free to write us again for additional clarification.

We know what it is like to experience the pain and uncertainity of a major church conflict. It is tempting to seek immediate relief by fleeing adversity rather than by remaining steadfast and waiting to discover how God will deepen our faith as we follow His ways and trust His timing. Another common response to conflict involves taking matters into our own hands, seeking an early (and often unbiblical) end to the discomfort of conflict. Other times we seek to ignore the presence of conflict by glossing over church problems, vainly hoping that they will simply disappear with the passage of time.

We must address conflict God's way so that we and our churches will experience the blessing of Ephesians 4:15-16: "...speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."

We look foward to hearing from you!

Dr. David Noble
Dr. Larry Cornine
Rev. Dennis Depugh
Diane Noble
Kraig Kelsey

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Staggering Statistics

No one wants to become a statistic, particularly when it comes to church conflict. As a worksheet in our new discipleship book "Winning The Real Battle At Church" shows, congregations across America are rife with conflict. For example...

Congregational Conflict

More than 19,000 congregations experience major conflict every year.

25% of the churches in one survey reported conflict in the previous five years that was serious enough to have a lasting impact on congregational life.

Only 2% of church conflict involves doctrinal issues.

98% of church conflict involves interpersonal issues.

Control issues ranked as the most common cause of conflict (85%)

About 40% of church members who leave their churches do so because of conflict.

Very small numbers (16%) of churches report positive outcomes from conflict.


Toll of Conflict on Pastors

The average pastoral career lasts only 14 years - less than half of what it was not long ago.

1,500 pastors leave their assignments every month in the United States because of conflict, burnout or moral failure.

45% of the pastors terminated in one denomination left the ministry altogether.

34% of all pastors presently serve congregations that forced their previous pastor to resign.

(see page 171 of "Winning The Real Battle At Church" for documentation)