Conflict Case Study #1 - A Christian School

A church establishes a Christian school on its property.  The school then rents the church facilities to accommodate its Christian educational programs.  Some in the congregation are disappointed with the school's frequent disruptions of church activities (the "true" ministry of the church), occasional property damage, and increasing space requirements.  Others in the congregation view the Christian school as a ministry of the church to the community.  They fail to understand why the school has to have a "business" relationship with the church at all.  One of the members of this faction has moved in a business meeting that the church should discontinue charging rent to the school.  This, of course, enraged the other faction who demanded they school get their own building.
 

Assessment of Issues:

There appear to be three primary areas of conflict in this church scenario.  The conflict does not appear to be destructive, yet.  This is a situation that could easily escalate since the Christian School is independent of the church.  People may feel less loyalty to those who are not members of the church.  The three major issues are:

1. What is the scope of ministry for the church?  Does it include comprehensive education for children in the community or only spiritual education through Sunday School, Mission Friends, and other programs?
2. If a Christian School is in the scope of ministry for the church, then how should the ministry be supported: through private donations, through tuition, through church subsidy (cash, facilities, personnel, administrative help, etc.)?
3. Is the Christian School carrying out its stewardship responsibilities in regard to church property?  Are procedures in place for the church and the Christian School to identify incidents and appropriate corrective action or reimbursement?

Strategy for Managing Conflict:

These three issues are related but are not all equal.  The first issue is strategic in nature.  The second issue follows the first as a tactical application.  The third issue represents a current area of conflict at an operational level.  The third issue may also be the quickest and easiest to handle.  So an obvious place to start would be to get representatives from the church and school together to put in place a general set of procedures covering operation of the school on church facilities.  This should be a fairly benign session as far as conflict goes.  The purpose could be clearly stated.  The focus of the session would not be on any individual but on the need for explicit procedures covering what the church should provide, what the school will use, how it will be used, and how the school will leave the facilities when it is done.

One area of the procedures which has a potential for conflict is in the determination of corrective action and reimbursement by the school for any incidents reported.  Questions which need to be addressed include:

• Should the school leave a room out of order, what is the appropriate corrective action? What reimbursement, if any, is appropriate?
• If a church item is damaged, what is appropriate reimbursement?  Can the school replace the item or must it be monetarily compensated?
• If a room is unavailable for church use following a school function, what is the appropriate corrective action?  Should the school reimburse the church for “lost ministry opportunity”?

In reviewing these questions, the school may also respond with requests for reimbursement or free services when church membership increases due to the school.  This is where a spirit of teamwork and good will must really be emphasized.  It would be impossible to accurately assess the effect of the school on church rolls (they could go up or down at any point in time).  So the facilitation of this session to determine procedures must be kept to the major procedural issues and away from subjective discussions on impact.

Completing this task could provide a quick “victory” for the church and school.  It could defuse some of the tension that has already developed.  Easing strained relationships would be a good first step toward addressing the first two issues.

At this point, the first issue needs to be addressed separately by the church and the school.  Each needs to clearly articulate their basic ministry strategy and tactical approach to carrying out that strategy.  This may well eliminate the second issue.  If the church does not feel the scope of its ministry should include general education for the community, then both the second and third issues are irrelevant.  The church should then discontinue its relationship with the school.  The church should gather its elders or leaders together to prayerfully discuss its mission in regard to a school.  The congregation should also be involved to determine its sense of the church mission in the community.  The mission of the church should guide this debate.  It may be that the church is at a point of rediscovering its mission.  Either way, a planning session of some sort needs to be conducted to help the church secure its mission, strategies to support the mission, and tactical plans to achieve the mission.  The same is true of the current school ministry.  It may decide that it should be totally independent of the church or even more tightly integrated.

Assuming the first issue is resolved and a school is an appropriate strategy for education and evangelism of the community, then the second issue of how to support such a ministry must be addressed.  The type of support for the ministry will in large part determine the overall relationship of the school to the church.  It could operate simply as a department within the church organization, wholly owned by the church and supported in the general budget.  The school could also exist as a non-profit ministry separate from the church.  Support could come from some combination of tuition, donations, or church contributions.  Again, the elders or church leaders must get together to discuss this issue prayerfully.  All types of support must be addressed:  monetary, facilities, services, personnel.  Delineating the various support to be provided will narrow down the interfaces between the ministry of the church and the school.  Once settled, procedures for the operation of the school in relation to the church can be jointly developed.

If the type of school the church desires is close enough to the current school ministry, then the two may be able to work out an agreement.  If not, then the school may be forced to find other facilities to use.  This may also create some degree of conflict in closing down the school on church premises.  In the long run, though, conflict should be minimized as the mission of the church becomes clearer and more tightly focused.

Our Creator God loves you and wants you to know Him! If you would like to contact this ministry for further information or questions, please send your e-mail to:
Email: ministryrequest1@WordTruth.Com
Web Site: WordTruth.Com

Copyright 6/18/2001, Randy Lariscy.