Abstract
Conflict is inevitable within congregations and can contribute to their growth or decline, depending on how the leadership in a congregation handles a conflict. The Dutch Reformed Church in Africa, Orange Free State (DRCA OFS) has, for over a decade, experienced growing internal conflicts within its leadership in the various structures of the church. Some of these conflicts have culminated in physical violence and litigations. This article aims to analyse the emerging conflict situations within the leadership in the various structures of the DRCA OFS. The leading research question is: What are the dynamics of conflict situations of the leadership in the various structures of the DRCA OFS?
Highlights
In his book entitled Authority, Leadership and Conflict in the Church, Avis (1992:120) states that the manager’s role in a conflict is to contain it, mediate and reconcile, whereas the leader’s role is to harness conflict to serve the overall mission of the institution
As conflict is inevitable among human beings, it must not be allowed to exhaust its participants and paralyse the institution; it must be channelled away from infighting towards confronting the challenges emerging from the environment
The DRCA OFS is experiencing conflict situations that range from simple disagreements on some procedures and roles to physical conflict and litigation
Summary
In his book entitled Authority, Leadership and Conflict in the Church, Avis (1992:120) states that the manager’s role in a conflict is to contain it, mediate and reconcile, whereas the leader’s role is to harness conflict to serve the overall mission of the institution. The manager contains conflict and endeavours to manage it, whereas the leader uses conflict as an opportunity to achieve the common mission of the institution. Avis warns that we must never allow conflict to destroy the institutions, but that we can use conflict to confront challenges facing the institutions. The leadership often allows conflicts to grow to such an extent that congregations experience a division and slow death, instead of using conflict as an opportunity to transform the congregation
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