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One writer offers these principles on how to avoid or minimize church conflicts: 1) Have and hold a correct view about God. Notice how God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit function harmoniously because they love, accept, and commune with each other. They are our perfect model. 2) Have and hold a correct view of self. Realize God loves us for who we are, not for what we achieve, so we don’t need to outdo each other. 3) Have and hold a correct view of community. Conflict often starts with us. As soon as it arises, we should settle it by communication. Don’t let conflict fester. 4) Have and hold a correct view of the Cross of Christ. Just as He humbled Himself to suffer and die for us, we should sacrifice our pride and self-centeredness for the sake of others. To foster harmony, Paul wrote 1 Corinthians. In chapter 12, he talks about the use of spiritual gifts. He said to these warring Christians, “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.” So the more we recognize the local church as God’s provision for our mutual enrichment, the more we will work for harmony and love.
