Continuum
of Processes

Simple line drawing of an olive branch, in dark blue-green on a light grey background

When issues arise in the church, leaders can explore a variety of options for consultation offered by the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center (LMPC). The option eventually pursued depends on certain key variables, including: the level of anxiety being experienced; how widespread the anxiety is within the congregational system; and the level of commitment among leaders to seek genuine healing and reconciliation. The full range of options listed below may help leaders discern the best course for their congregation, given the circumstances they are experiencing.

Available Options

  • Full Congregational Mediation Process

    This involves seven important steps:

    • Contracting and Commitment
    • Information Gathering and Assessment
    • Education
    • Healing
    • Problem Solving
    • Closure 
    • An ongoing process of coaching for the pastor and, potentially, other key leaders is also a typical part of the process.

    The circumstances within which the congregational mediation process makes the most sense include: 

    1. a fairly high and wide-spread level of anxiety in the congregation; 
    2. the need to make some win-win decisions regarding issues of disagreement facing the congregation; 
    3. the need to address hurts in interpersonal relationships in the congregation in a healing manner; 
    4. a need to bring closure to unresolved hurts from the past (both recent and more distant), so as to prevent the recurrence of destructive, multi-generational conflict patterns in the future.

    This process typically takes from six to twelve months to complete. Before entering such an intensive process, LMPC asks for an expression of support from congregational membership. In churches that operate according to a congregational polity system, this is usually done by a congregational vote of those present at an officially called congregational meeting; LMPC would want to have a vote whereby at least 67% of those present and voting express their support for undertaking the congregational mediation process.


    In churches where the official leadership board has the authority to make such decisions — including the authority to commit significant funding — we still want to ensure that there is broad congregational support for that decision. In such cases, we use a survey form — composed of continuum questions — that is passed out at an officially called congregational meeting where we've explained the process to members and answered their questions about it. We would want to ensure that there is something approaching 67% of the members who attend such a meeting who would indicate their commitment to support the leadership board's decision to undertake the congregational mediation process.


    LMPC staff invests substantial on-site time in the congregational mediation process. The education phase includes two weekend workshops (described below). The information-gathering phase entails several steps, including a series of ninety-minute small-group sessions during which the interests of participants are recorded for problem solving later in the process. The healing phase usually includes two five-hour sessions held on Saturdays to work at neutralizing history. The problem-solving phase also includes two five-hour, Saturday sessions. It all concludes with a closing service of reconciliation. Additional on-site time may be involved, if further coaching with the pastor or consultation with leaders — or if interpersonal mediation with key individuals — is needed.


    The congregational mediation process is designed to involve the entire congregation. The participation and support of key leaders, including the pastor, is crucial. All members are encouraged to attend the educational events, one of the small group sessions, and all the large-group healing and problem-solving sessions.

  • Mediation with a Smaller Group

    While higher levels of anxiety or more significant hurts may be present among a segment of the congregation, they sometimes do not characterize the congregation as a whole. In such situations, and after careful assessment involving LMPC staff, an alternative to a full-scale congregational mediation process involving a smaller group of members, or a particular segment of the congregation, may be designed and implemented. While such a process follows the same basic steps of the congregational mediation process of contracting, information gathering, education, healing, problem-solving, closing phases — it involves fewer participants and, typically, requires less time and expense.


    However, caution should be exercised in choosing to pursue the smaller group mediation option because of expediency, when what is really warranted by the situation is a full-scale congregational mediation process. That is, for any consultation process to be effective, all parties who have been impacted by past conflicts, all parties who have the potential to be impacted by the outcome of the process, that is any agreements reached or decisions made within the context of the process, and all patties who have the potential to block the implementation of the outcome of the process should be involved in the process.


    Moreover, even in a smaller group mediation process, there is a need to ensure that people representing all of the various perspectives on the issues facing the congregation are included in the process. Prior to initiating the mediation process, the leadership board would need to secure the commitment to participate from those who would best be involved in the process. It would be important to include people impacted by the conflict who hold diverse perspectives on the issues being faced, including those who are neutral or more moderate in their views, since such people can have a moderating influence on those who are polarized. Finally, people serving in significant, formal positions of leadership, as well as those who hold informal positions of leadership in the congregation should be involved in the process as well.

  • Educational Workshops with Coaching of Leaders

    When intensity within a congregation is not at a particularly high level, there is another alternative to the congregational mediation process that is worth exploring: providing a series of two educational workshops, in conjunction with a process of periodic coaching for congregational leaders and the pastor.


    The two workshops we recommend are: Healthy Congregations, followed some weeks later by Conflict in the Church: Entrusted with the Message of Reconciliation. The workshops would be valuable for anyone in the congregation, although leaders and those involved in any conflicts should be particularly encouraged to attend.


    The consultation process for the pastor could begin prior to the educational workshops. This coaching process would focus on assisting the pastor's efforts to understand and manage his or her own functioning as a key leader in the congregational system. The consultation process for congregational fay leaders would be in tandem with the educational workshops. The focus would be on empowering leaders to implement the workshop leanings and to work at institutionalizing healthy conflict transformation procedures for the future.


    The combined education and more limited consultation process can be effective in lieu of a congregational mediation process in contributing to more healthy congregational functioning when three conditions are met: 

    1. there is not widespread, high-level anxiety within the congregation, nor is there an accumulation of hurts in need of healing; 
    2. lay leadership and pastor are relatively unified; 
    3. lay leadership and pastor are committed to doing the hard work of implementing the workshop learnings afterward.

  • Freestanding Educational Events

    One or both of the two workshops described above (Healthy Congregations and Conflict in the Church: Entrusted with the Message of Reconciliation) are often used as freestanding educational events by congregations. This option is often pursued by churches when anxiety is relatively low in the congregation with no significant need for healing in relationships.


    The benefit of such workshops is that they can equip congregational leaders to put limits on invasive, destructive behaviors, and, thereby, prevent destructive conflict from emerging in the future. The workshops can also equip leaders with skills for addressing conflicts in a problem-solving way at an early level of intensity, so that the intensity level does not escalate to the point of creating division and polarization in the church.


    In some cases, where a church is hesitant to engage the full-scale congregational mediation process — even though the situation clearly points to the need for that process—contracting for the two workshops can be an initial step that ultimately leads to helping people see the need to undertake the full-scale process.

  • Restorative Conversation

    LMPC, at times, will lead restorative conversations when a congregation needs to have a difficult conversation that requires an outside facilitator to guide the conversation. This intervention is recommended when a congregation has experienced a particularly painful event and desires a conversation where members can talk through the pain and grief of the event, hear from one another, process the event as a group together, and move forward in a unified manner. In addition, a restorative conversation can be utilized when there is a desire to hear from one another on a difficult or polarizing topic, not as a means of arguing positions, but to share one’s concerns and thoughts and interests. 

     

    In a smaller group, LMPC implements a Circle Process; in a larger group, LMPC implements a Fishbowl Circle, often referred to as a Samoan Circle. The intention of the circle is to give individuals an opportunity to have agency and speak from their hearts on important matters in supportive and respectful ways. Restorative conversations are not a substitute for mediation.

  • An Agreement on Procedures

    When a congregation is discerning to make a major decision, and there are significant differences around the issue, LMPC can facilitate a process that engages members and leads toward a satisfactory resolution for a majority of the congregation. Consulting with a specially appointed discernment committee of the church, LMPC designs an Agreement on Procedures that details the steps and timeline of the discernment process, giving congregants an opportunity to understand the complexity of the issue and a chance to share their perspective to shape a final proposal, leading up to an informed vote. This process usually includes an educational component, small-group sessions, a written report and a final proposal. An Agreement on Procedure can be useful when discerning to merge a congregation, build a new fellowship hall, become an open-and-affirming congregation, etc.  

  • Telephone Coaching

    Finally, even when a congregation chooses not to invite on-site work by LMPC, pastors can benefit from ongoing telephone coaching with LMPC staff. Using a case study format, the pastor would schedule consultation sessions focused on specific congregational situations and how he/she can manage self more effectively in those situations. The coaching process is grounded in Bowen family systems theory and how such emotional process dynamics play out in congregational life. Such coaching can be particularly useful when pastors simultaneously attend LMPC's Clergy Clinic in Family Emotional Process.

LMPC's Fee Schedule

If a church pursues any of the above options, the following fee schedule would apply:

  • $200.00 per hour for on-site time — ($300.00 per hour when two persons are on-site as co-mediators, which is typically the case in sessions in the information-gathering, healing, and problem w solving phases, or when a second staff person is required to manage the Zoom breakout rooms for an online workshop).
  • $100.00 per hour for off-site time e.g. time involved in telephone conversations, coaching, special preparation, reviewing information, preparing reports, administrative tasks related to the case, etc.
  • $40.00 per hour per mediator for travel, set-up, or on-site downtime.
  • $50.00 overnight surcharge per mediator for each night required to be away from home. 
  • $15.00 per person charge for training manuals.
  • $15.00 per person charge for Friendly Style Profile.
  • Travel expenses: airfare and rental car, mileage @ the standard IRS rate ($.655 per mile for 2023), airport transportation, parking, tolls, lodging, meals, etc.

The above overview should cover the details sufficiently regarding the various options and how LMPC might be involved. If there were an interest in exploring the full-scale congregational mediation process further, the next step would be for LMPC staff to meet with the official leadership board to outline the steps in the process and answer their questions about it. Such a meeting can also be useful when a church decides to pursue the smaller group mediation option; however, such a meeting may not be necessary, if all members of the leadership board are fully supportive of moving forward with the process.

LMPC's Referral Network

If a church were to invite LMPC to facilitate a mediation process, our staff may or may not be in a position to take on the case, depending on how full our schedule is at the time that an invitation is issued. If we're not able to take on another consultation case directly, there may be people in our broader network to whom we can refer cases for mediation who may be available to serve as lead consultants on a case. Such people would be among those who have been trained by the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center in the model we developed for facilitating a congregational mediation process. If asked to invest time in researching who among such people might be available to take on a mediation case, LMPC would need to keep track of such time for billing purposes.


If referring the case to an individual or team from our network, our staff would still supervise the process and serve as a coach to those persons and, potentially, to assist with some components of the process. Such coaching would primarily take place via the telephone, with the possibility of some limited face-to-face coaching sessions as well. The components of the mediation process for which our staff might be available to assist in the on-site work, if requested by the lead consultants, would be certain educational components and the structured dialogue sessions.

Conclusion

Whenever a church faces a time of conflict, leaders can have a difficult time discerning the best course of action to pursue. However, whatever option is chosen, a key ingredient in helping a church move toward healing and reconciliation is the capacity of leaders to step back from their particular position on the content issues being faced by the church and, instead, focus on their primary role of being stewards of congregational health.

With such a focus, leaders will give primary attention to their own presence and functioning, rather than getting caught up in the anxiety of the situation. As leaders focus on their own presence and functioning, they come to recognize the crucial importance of maintaining nonanxious presence — which includes managing their own reactive tendencies in addition to staying connected with church members, while lifting up a clear vision for reconciliation that is consistent with the broader mission of the church. Such criteria should be the primary focus of leaders, no matter what the outcome on the content issues being faced.



When leaders are able to function in ways consistent with the above guidelines, it can have a calming impact on the whole church system. However, when leaders get caught up in congregational anxieties, it can heighten anxiety throughout the church system. Thus, leaders play a particularly important role in moving a church through times of anxiety, in such a way that allows God 's Spirit to be active in helping Christ's church grow increasingly in healthy and wholeness, into all that God wants it to be.