Newsletter: NOVEMBER 2025

Conflict in the Church

Every church experiences conflict at some point in their history, sometimes, many times.  Conflict, rupture and disagreement are natural ways of working through difficult situations and even sin, personally and as a church body.  Jesus taught us much about conflict, from "specks and logs" to Matthew 18 and more.  In following our Saviior, over time and with support we can hopefully find repair, reconciliation and restoration of relationships.  

Recently, a fellow Christian told me a story about a conversation between himself and a believer overseas.  He asked that Christian, what is the main difference between Christians in America and Christians in his country, he didn't say theology or any of the other common things we might expect to hear like culture wars or the differences between conservatives and liberals, he said CONFLICT.  It was his perception that the church in the United States avoids healthy conflict at the expense of the individual and the church.  In my almost 25 years working with churches, I have to agree.  We have almost institutionalized avoiding conflict and not resolving differences.

One of the roles of our Covenant Keepers Team is to help you with conflict in your church.  All we ask is that you engage with us before "the house is on fire."  The earlier we can enter, the more successful and healthy conflict resolution can be.  Is your church having conflict?  Reach out to Pastor Luke Schouten, Covenant Keepers Team Coordinator at umvckt@gmail.com.  We are here to help, that's one way our network supports church members, boards/Consistories, staff, ministry leaders and pastors.

Pastor Succession Planning

Does your church have a plan in place for when your pastor retires?  This may feel like a long way off for some churches and for others, they are looking for a pastor.  It is never too late to start thinking about it though.  For some churches, this is coming up soon or in the next five years or so.  

We wanted to invite you to an in-person discussion on pastor succession planning with Matt Steen, co-founder of Chemistry Staffing.  Matt is already working with churches in the UMV and Alliance on how to get ready.  If you are interested in this discussion, please email Ron Fischer at ronfischer45@gmail.com.  We are planning for the meeting to be sometime during the second week of December. 

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