Pastor, Don’t Duck Your
Peacemaking Assignment
RESTORE
Fearing the worst, I opened the email.
A member concerned about conflict
within one of our ministry teams got
right to the point. “I’ve been praying
that you would step up and lead
before things get worse.” I sighed
and thought, “I don’t want to deal with
this.” So I didn’t. That’s right, I ducked
it. I deliberately avoided the person for
months. Eventually I manned up and we
cleared the air. Truth is, I don’t dislike
conflict; I loathe it. I’m a recovering
people pleaser with a gift for relapse.
Every pastor faces conflict in the
ministry. Many things can tempt us
to do an end run on our peacemaking
assignments—not just my self-
confessed idol of the fear of man
(Prov. 29:25). Here are four biblical
truths to help us pastors not duck,
but rather embrace our peacemaking
responsibilities.
40 • Solutions
by Curtis Heffelfinger
One, the gospel we preach does require
it. After unpacking every spiritual
blessing of the gospel in the first half
of Ephesians—including “reconciling us
to God in one body through the cross”
(2:16), the apostle Paul begins to plead
in chapter 4 for a life consistent with
our calling in Christ. The starting place?
“Make every effort to keep the unity of
the Spirit through the bond of peace”
(4:3, NIV).
Make every effort. Paul uses the same
Greek word, translated differently, about
preaching. “Do your best to present
yourself to God as one approved” (2
Tim. 2:15, emphasis added). Pastors
I know work their tails off in sermon
prep. It gets their best efforts. So must
preserving the Spirit’s gift of church
unity. When we embrace our calling as
ministers of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18)