He should have seen it coming. There were some vague and
unsubstantiated grumblings about people not connecting with him. There
were some expectations not clearly articulated. There was a new pastor
eager to find an associate pastor who more closely resembled the one he had
worked with prior. My friend was fired. You have probably heard stories
just like this – it may even be your story.

One of the most difficult tasks we have has professional ministers is dealing with church politics. Many new and even a few
seasoned pastors will tell you, "don’t worry about that sort of
thing. Just focus on loving God and people." Unfortunately, if
we neglect church politics that relate to ourselves or the ministry our ability to minister may be compromised by
grumbling, our resources might be taken away by uninformed church
boards, and ultimately we may lose our ability to serve professionally
because we been removed from our church.

Certainly there are perfect storms that we can not avoid –
circumstances that make a blow up unavoidable regardless of what we do.
But it is my belief that bulk of political scrapes in churches are not
only survivable, but are opportunities for personal and professional
growth as well as of ultimate benefit for the ministry we lead.

I have created a list of five actions we can take to help us deal with conflict and church politics.  Next week on SmartPastor.com we will explore these five tips.  I would love your feedback and ideas.  As one reader IM’ed me yesterday…we are in this together!

With you in the mine field!