Anabaptists are often called “the quiet in the land” – outsiders know us for our unpretentious, hardworking, peace-loving ways. Peace-loving, that is, until it comes to church problems. Instead of cultivating peace, we tear each other down, take sides against our brothers, and split churches over trifles. Should not our inconsistency alarm us? It should. Of course, Anabaptists aren’t the only ones with church problems, nor the only ones looking for change. In his recent book The Peacemaking Church, Curtis Heffelfinger draws from the Scripture and his own experiences with church conflict to share eight keys for unity and conflict resolution.
Heffelfinger, now an author and speaker, recently retired from pastoring Orlando Grace Church. As pastor, he worked to help OGC move slowly from conflict-torn to peaceful by cultivating practices that preserve unity. Unlike other books on conflict resolution, The Peacemaking Church takes a proactive approach to unity rather than a reactive one. That is, not merely explaining how to resolve conflict, but also how to head off problems before they start.
What I failed to notice, and what Heffelfinger exposes immediately, is just how much emphasis the New Testament places on peace and unity. In passage after passage, the Scripture commands us to “strive for peace,” to “be eager.” Do we make peacemaking a top priority? I admit, often I do not. “If you are going to be eager about anything in your church,” says Heffelfinger, “let it be this.”
Heffelfinger does a good job of laying out the chapters systematically, each digging into a different passage of Scripture to draw out a principle for peacemaking. The chapters are grouped into three sections: developing the right priorities, avoiding common conflict pitfalls, and practicing a unity-building lifestyle. Along the way, he also shares a lot of good and bad examples of conflict resolution from his own church experience. And while the problems at OGC may look different than our own, the road to conflict is the same. “It doesn’t take much for our deceitful, desperately sick hearts (Jer. 17:9) to start sliding down the slippery slope from so-called righteous indignation into sinful anger.”
At 153 pages, the book is not overly lengthy or difficult – well worth the effort. I must admit, Heffelfinger’s style annoyed me a little – the over-casual tone and abundance of cliché phrases detracted from his message at times. It would be a shame, however, to miss the pertinent truth within on account of a few flaws in the delivery.
Two excerpts seemed particularly relevant to our Anabaptist church divisions. First, we must “determine to distinguish accurately between primary and secondary issues” in our churches. And even more importantly, “Keep short accounts. Refuse to allow offenses to accumulate over time.” Those two principles alone will take us a long way toward unity.