David R. Sawyer believes that each congregation is a unique organism, “a distinctive mystery all its own,” and contains “hidden wisdom” within the mystery of its existence. When a congregation blows up emotionally, Sawyer asks us to claim a “sense of mystery” that looks beneath and beyond the uncertainties of church conflict and into the strategic possibilities of hope. His prudent and, yes, spiritual analysis urges us to seek the hidden hope that often exists “deep within a conflict.”
As Sawyer sees it, God is frequently at work in the conflicts that occur in churches in ways that humans can neither fathom nor control. He urges church people to posture ourselves humbly, perceptively, and patiently in “partnership with the power of God” that comes to us in conflicted situations. Thus, Sawyer favors and commends “conflict utilization” rather than the “conflict management” methods of organizational science that imply we can give direction and control to the outcomes of church conflict. He says that in stressing the rational nature of congregations, “conflict management” approaches give too little attention to “the deeper, hidden, emotional interrelationships at work. … ”
Moreover, Sawyer suggests that “conflict utilization” is more reliable than the customary approach of “conflict resolution” that sometimes offers simple resolutions to complex congregational relationships and dynamics. He points to “conflict utilization” as a reverent means of imagining God’s hopes for a church’s future. Wise leaders will perceive conflict as a possibility for imagining new life and mission buried beneath the draining confusion and emotion of a crisis-laden congregational situation.
Sawyer ventures beyond the “family systems” approaches of Peter Steinke and others. While building on their strengths, he offers a fresh and new angle beyond their linear focus on congregational anxiety, reactivity, lack of differentiation, triangles, and ineffective functioning. As he seeks to “unlock the mystery” of church conflict, he contends that the practice of “conflict utilization” is suffused with transformational possibilities. Sawyer is persuaded that “the congregation’s stories are often windows into the active movement of God in the congregation, and they indicate the openness to the future that God desires for them.” He stresses “the practical helpfulness of narrative approaches to unraveling the mysteries of church conflict.” In examining congregational “structures, stories, and symptoms,” Sawyer affirms the “interconnectedness” and “interrelatedness” of a church’s life, and he urges believers to expect the “wonderful changes” that God yearns for the church through “conflict utilization.”
Because a church is an organism with boundaries and constituent parts, Sawyer carefully studies the formal and informal structures of congregations. He tries to discern patterns of organization, behaviors, rules, roles, self-definition, interrelationships, and change. According to Sawyer, as we ponder structures and their adaptability and rigidity, we are able to see what is taking place. We are given a key that allows us to see and interpret the frequently hidden clues and mysteries related to a church conflict. Structural “assessment and intervention” can enable a congregation to move beyond immobilizing disagreements and toward hope and transformation.
Because a church is more than an organizational structure; because a church “is a living system that has consciousness”; and because humans “are meaning-making creatures,” Sawyer invites us to imagine that a congregation’s stories are among the profoundly mysterious ways God’s truth is spoken and understood in community. Congregational stories are both revelational and healing. They are keys to interpreting a living communion’s heart and soul. Thus, Sawyer observes that, as we carefully listen to the stories of a congregation, we walk through a door leading us “into the inner wisdom of a congregation.” We can gather clues regarding the stories of a congregation by studying its name, building, rituals, and music. A collaborative collection of congregational stories gives us insight and appreciation regarding the organism’s traditions, vision, purpose, vocational identities, characters, heroes, heroines, unheard voices, ironies, comedies, tragedies, longings, conflicts, and hopes for the future.
Because Sawyer believes that the changes of time and human existence often disrupt the life of a congregation in ways that produce conflict, he asks us to pay special attention to symptoms that appear as signs and evidence of this disruptive process. He implores wise leaders to search for and imagine ways in which we can learn from symptoms arising out of the forces of change. He asks wise leaders to study the symptoms produced from our fear of change, and to view them as signs of something else that is happening: “signs pointing to the good future that God desires for the congregation.” When we learn from symptoms produced by threatening changes, “conflict utilization” can take place and congregations can struggle toward hope, health, interconnectedness, and transformation.
Sawyer lifts up and commends leaders who, amidst the whirlwind of conflict, choose to lead, engage in prayerful discernment, collaborate, remain openly fair, and welcome outside assistance. A “leader in conflict” is “one who acts from an inner sense of freedom and integrity and an outer demeanor of respectful communion with others to move the congregation’s story into the future.” With remarkable spiritual and practical insight, and grounded in the pastoral and process theology of Daniel Day Williams, Sawyer’s chapter on “Tapping the Leader’s Inner Sage” provides helpful and inspiring guidance to those who would try to serve as leaders in and through the storms of congregational turmoil.
As Sawyer articulates his theology of “conflict utilization,” and as he offers us “hopeful frames for uncomfortable realities,” he grounds his intriguing and deeply spiritual work in the following “positive hypothesis” which asks: “How does the conflict point to the transformation God desires for the congregation?”
This volume should influence our serious and hopeful conversations on congregational conflict for years to come.
Dean K. Thompson is president of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky.
