Healthy Conflict and Communication in Congregational Systems
Leading Self and Congregational Systems
About this course
FORM 203 equips students to lead through congregational tension with steady presence, clear communication, and spiritually grounded resilience. The course explores how conflict functions in anxious systems, how miscommunication escalates reactivity, and how leaders can de-escalate while maintaining clarity of purpose. Students practice core skills such as defining the issue, listening for underlying values and losses, setting boundaries, naming patterns without shaming, and speaking truth with humility.
Attention is given to difficult conversations in pastoral settings (staff, session, congregational meetings, and community partnerships), including repair after rupture. The course emphasizes “non-anxious presence,” accountability, and the ethical use of authority in emotionally charged situations.
Course objectives
- Demonstrate non-anxious presence and self-regulation in high-tension ministry settings.
- Identify common congregational conflict patterns (triangulation, scapegoating, cutoff, overfunctioning/underfunctioning) and describe how they intensify.
- Apply practical communication skills—active listening, reflective summarizing, clean questions, and “I” statements—in pastoral and leadership conversations.
- Distinguish between content issues and process issues, and intervene appropriately in each.
- Plan and facilitate a difficult conversation with clear goals, boundaries, and follow-up steps.
- Use covenantal frameworks and clear expectations to prevent chronic conflict and reduce ambiguity.
- Practice repair strategies after conflict (confession, apology, accountability, and restoration) appropriate to pastoral leadership.
- Demonstrate responsible handling of confidentiality, power dynamics, and ethical risks in conflict situations.
Who may participate?
All church leaders unless a prerequisite or a particular offering states otherwise.