How to Resolve Conflict on Your Team… Fast

Jason Hatley here – Pastor of Worship Arts at The Journey and Founder of Worship Leader Insights.

Conflict happens!

(I know… tell me something I don’t know). And worship teams are not immune.

The truth is you can’t prevent conflict on your team (sorry – we’re all human and we all make mistakes). But just because it can’t be avoided, doesn’t mean that we can’t minimize it’s effects on our team by dealing with it quickly.

There’s a ministry rule that I learned a long time ago, and that has saved me countless hours of heartache as a Worship Pastor. The rule is simply this: Run to conflict!

Whenever conflict arises we have two choices:

#1 – You can run away. Pretend it doesn’t exist. Hope that it will go away on it’s own. This is how many pastors and worship leaders respond when faced with conflict. After all many of us (me included) aren’t necessarily confrontational people. So rather than deal quickly with the conflict, we allow it to fester, which of course only makes it worse. But there’s another way.

#2 – You can run to conflict.
Running to conflict simply means that as soon as a conflict (relational or value) arises, we deal with it… immediately!

A team member is creating dissension with gossip? Call him immediately to a meeting and nip it. A musician arrives completely unprepared for rehearsal? Ask her to stay after rehearsal that night to talk about the importance of always arriving prepared. A key leader or staff member on your team stops tithing? Meet with him to find out if he’s going through a financial crisis, and challenge him to set a good example for the rest of the team by putting God first in this area.

It may be uncomfortable… you may dread having to deal with it. But God didn’t call us to ministry to just sing songs or preach sermons. He called us to care for the spiritual lives of those on our team.

Here’s what you’ll find if you take this challenge. Dealing with conflict immediately:

Keeps the conflict from spreading and hurting others on your team
Helps those involved find resolution and get back to spiritual health more quickly
Reduces future conflicts because you get a “reputation” as someone who runs to conflict

So – the next time conflict arises on your team… what will you do?

I encourage you to run to conflict and deal with small things while they are small.

Your partner in ministry,

Jason Hatley
Pastor of Worship Arts
The Journey Church

PS – This week on the blog you’ve been hearing all about creating a BIG day. As you know… a great worship service is a BIG part of a BIG day. Join me this week (or next) for a Free 75-minute Webinar for Pastors and Worship Leaders about how to avoid the Top 3 Worship Planning Mistakes.

If you feel stress in planning worship services… if you struggle to plan your service more than one week at a time, then join me for this Free webinar on how to maximize your worship planning process!

About Nelson Searcy

Nelson Searcy is an experienced church growth strategist, pastor, church planter and coach, consulting with churches around the world. As founder of Church Leader Insights and the Renegade Pastors Network, he has personally trained more than 3,500 church leaders in over 45 denominations through live events, seminars and monthly coaching. Nelson is also the Founding and Lead Pastor of The Journey Church, with locations across New York City and in Boca Raton, FL. Nelson and his church routinely appear on lists such as “The 50 Most Influential Churches” and “The 25 Most Innovative Leaders.” He is the author of over 100 church growth resources and 18+ books, including The Renegade Pastor: Abandoning Average in Your Life, Ministry and The Difference Maker: Using Your Everyday Life for Eternal Impact, and At the Cross with the People Who Were There. He and his wife, Kelley, have one son, Alexander.