...INTRODUCTION What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? (James 4:1 New International Version) What place does a gun have in a church board meeting? The answer is− none! And yet, one pastor recently spoke of his personal experience during a confrontational board meeting where a member pulled a pistol out of his coat pocket and laid it on the table, explaining that he was not above using it. Such testimonies seem confusing and paradoxical. Living peaceably is supposed to be central to what it means to be a Christian. In fact, the very essence of the Gospel message speaks of forgiveness, reconciliation, and unity. Nevertheless, according to the Faith Communities Today survey (FACT—the largest survey of congregations ever conducted in the United States), conflict has become synonymous with church, with 75% of all congregations reporting some level of conflict within the past five years.1 This article describes both from research and experience the struggle many Christians face in their attempts to manage conflict appropriately. Unfortunately, this inability, and the reality of subtle and devious tactics by antagonists, leaves in its wake shipwrecked people who are hurt and The Pastor and Conflict Management Lecture Page 2 discouraged; often calloused and hardened.2 All around is evidence of this prevalent problem and because the health of the ministry is crucial to the health of a denomination, we must...
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...Notes for the Course: Religion and Ethics in our Modern Society, 2012 By Dr H Ndlovu Definition and Nature of Christian Ethics Ethics is derived from the Greek word “ethos” that is also comes from another word “ethika.” Ethika means norms, conventions, values, customs the society. Thus ethics is a discipline that examines one’s moral standards or the moral of a society. These are absorbed from family, church and friends. Why Study Ethics There are nine reasons why human beings have to study ethics. 1. Human beings are capable of reasoning from cause to effect with the understanding that everything done has effect. 2. Human beings are capable of making choices after comparing the alternatives, that is, internal and external. People have two cells namely: a. Real – what we have now b. Ideal – what we are aiming at 3. Human beings are self – conscious. This means we can study ourselves by being a subject and be the object at the same time. 4. Human beings are finite or limited not knowing what will happen from the next moment or next door. Thus, we must have principles to apply when situations comes. 5. Human life is an active dynamic phenomenon – We do something as if we do nothing. 6. People also can be taught to be good (Isaiah 1 :18) 7. Human beings are capable of filing an obligation 8. Human beings are also capable of understanding what moral terms like freedom, dignity and so on affects other people. 9. Finally, human beings need to survive. Human civilization...
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...“Daily Confession of Faith” In Christ I am anointed and a powerful person of God. I am a joint-heir with Jesus and more than a conqueror. I am a doer of the Word of God and a channel for His blessings. If God be for me, who can be against me? I am blessed coming in and I am blessed Going out. My enemies are fleeing before me. God has commanded His blessing on my storehouses. He has opened His Good treasures and I shall lend and not borrow. I am the head and not the tail. He has given me power to make wealth. I dwell in the secret place I have His protection and provision. God is my refuge, my fortress I am not afraid of the snare of the fowler. No Evil shall befall me and no plague shall come nigh My dwelling. God has given his angels Charge over me and they are bearing me up in their hands lest I dash my foot against a stone, as declared in Psalms 91. I Peter 2:9 establishes I am a chosen generation, A royal priesthood, a holy nation. I am a peculiar person called out of darkness Into His marvelous light. I Peter 2:24 states, I have been healed by the stripes of Jesus. Cancer, sugar diabetes, heart disease, sickness, Afflictions, infections, or any other disease cannot enter my body. I am without spot or blemish, An intercessor, the righteousness of God, saved, and washed in the Blood of Jesus. “No weapon formed against me shall prosper, and every tongue Which rises against me in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their Righteousness...
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