Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

1987

Document Type

Project Report

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Doctor of Ministry DMin

First Advisor

Benjamin D. Schoun

Second Advisor

Roger L. Dudley

Third Advisor

Abraham Terian

Abstract

An important field of expanding interest is the management of differences in the church. Changes have taken place which challenge the very existence and fibre of organizational structure and relationship growth in the church setting. There are several reasons for the increasing need for efficiency in the field of conflict management. One basic reason is the potential for dysfunctional and functional effects that conflict can have on any congregation. Adequate conflict management can prove to be a critical skill for the healthy management of differences. Consequently, potential and practicing ministers need special and continuing training in this field. It was the intent of this present study to design seminar materials that might bring deeper awareness and sensitization to some of the various aspects of conflict management to the ministers of the Caribbean and West Indies Unions of Seventh-day Adventists. The theological, social, andragogical, and methodological approaches to the study served to undergird the development of the six-module seminar. This seminar gives ministers exposure to skills which aid interpersonal relationships: listening, assertiveness, conflict resolution, collaborative problem-solving, and skill selection. The findings of the literature suggest that the successful church administrator will also demonstrate proficiency in interpersonal relationships and creative conflict management. The position of this project is that when ministers become sensitized to the origin, process, and potential of conflicts, they can significantly influence the route that conflicts take by utilizing certain skills associated with conflict management and creative problem solving.

Subject Area

Conflict management, Reconciliation--Religious aspects--Seventh-day Adventists

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/dmin/218/

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