It is perfectly natural that we encounter times when we don’t
immediately agree with each others ideas during planning times on a team. The following are some simple tips that can
help bring about resolution to the differences of opinion.
1. Differences
of opinion as you talk about strategies and events are healthy as you work
together with an agreed-upon mission. It
helps you to consider the good sides and weak sides of possible events or
strategies. It helps you to think though
which is the better strategy to use.
NOTE: Differences
of opinion in vision and mission -what you feel God has called you to do as a
group- is a very different issue. If
there are members on your team who have a completely different mission or
overall objective for your team, then it may mean that it is better for you not
to work together. Agreement on
mission is crucial. God has not called
us all to the exact same mission. He
calls some of us to different way of fulfilling His mission for us. The mission of New Life, the mission that I
am coaching and resourcing you in, is more than the mission of simply taking
the gospel to lost students in Russia.
The mission is to build movements of evangelism and discipleship and
prayer on your campus – to be a lighthouse on your campus to the non-believers
who don’t know where else to go to find the Light.
2. Conflict
becomes a problem is when it stops you from moving forward in your team’s
objective.
·
One simple way to deal with conflict when it
comes to choosing what ideas or plans to use in the overall vision and mission
of building a movement on your campus is to stop the discussion and take time
to pray silently for 10 minutes. As each
of you goes before the Lord in prayer, mentally go over the reflection
questions from the last coaching tip,
confess any sin He brings to your mind and make sure you are filled with the
power of the Holy Spirit.
Ask God to direct your thoughts toward His
plan for what you should do. Then after
someone closes your time in prayer, share with each other what God impressed on you. When I have done this on teams, it
generally ends up that He has brought us all into agreement during the prayer
time, or has totally changed my mind on the thing I was fighting for and
prompted me to be willing to do what another person on the team was suggesting.
·
Another thing you can do as you feel yourself
beginning to want to fight for your idea, is simply to defer to the other. Usually there is no perfectly right or no
absolutely wrong idea when you are talking about which event to choose – there
might be some which appear better, and you may think that your idea is better,
but practice the concept of letting go of your idea, and promoting the idea of
someone else. Perhaps you can add
something that will improve their idea so that you can own it together. It may mean just letting something go just
because you feel pride starting to come in and putting someone else's ideas
before your own is a humble response.
“If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if His love
has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit
means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor:
Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push
your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself
aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own
advantage. Forget yourselves…” Phil.2:1-4 - The Message
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