How do you handle personal disputes among elders?
- Pray. Satan loves to divide. If he can divide a church’s leaders he gets a foothold from which to divide the church. So beg God to bring unity and peace.
- Pursue the brother in order to build your relationship. Irritation often arises out of ignorance. Work to get to know the brother and remember that you don’t have all the facts.
- Be humble. Even if you don’t understand why someone is the way he is, remember that God has tolerated far more from you. Trust that God has given this man, with his particular combination of strengths and weaknesses, to build up the body in ways that you cannot. Know that God intends to build up the body of Christ through our differences, even if we sinfully fight with one another because of those differences.
(This material has been adapted from the article “Disagreements and Differences Among Elders: An Interview with Matt Schmucker”)
