Making Conflict Constructive

Control in Conflict by John Wallace, Broadman, $4.95

Reviewed by Randy Hines, youth and family pastor, Old North Baptist Church, Canfield, Ohio

No one in the congregation ever sits back and says, "I think we ought to have a nasty church fight." No, harmony is the ideal expressed throughout the New Testament, but still the battles arise. Imperfect members (and pastors) make conflict inevitable.

On staff at only my second church, I have entered both situations with the senior pastor leaving under unpleasant circumstances. (Forget that phrase; it was severe conflict!)

Control in Conflict encourages Christians to handle their differences constructively and productively. It is an autobiographical approach that has worked for John Wallace, pastor of Parkway Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky, for thirty-four years. Maintaining peace, Wallace says, is "a learned discipline to which all Christians are called."

Don't think that Wallace's pastorates have been free of strife, ...