July 2011 – Resolve Conflict Now

Review: Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times by Peter Steinke

Congregation Leadership in Anxious Times by Peter Steinke: A Review by Glen Bickford Peter Steinke continues his church consultation legacy with this book focused on church leadership: how to be a non-anxious presence. His first chapter, Anxious Souls, describes the effects of anxiety: contagiousness, reactivity, black and white thinking. He also quotes Dean R. Hoge and Jacqueline…

Mediation Brings New Ideas

One of the most valuable things that a mediator brings to a conflict is a different perspective. A mediator can offer new ideas without seeming to be on one side or another. For example, there are at least five different ways to divide personal personal property in a divorce mediation. A mediator can offer a solution…

Mediators are not always lawyers.

Many mediators are lawyers but I am not a lawyer, so when people ask me a legal question the best thing I can do is refer them to a lawyer. This makes divorce mediation slow at times. But it it better to know one’s boundaries than give poor legal advice. At times in divorce mediation,…

Review: The American Church in Crisis by David Olson

David Olson is a pastor, church planter and church planter coach for the Evangelical Covenant Church. A long-time resident of Minnesota, he recently moved to Chicago to take a position with the national office of the Evangelical Covenant Church. His book The American Church in Crisis is a statistician’s attempt to make sense of the overall decline…

Review: Peter Steinke’s A Door Set Open and New Visions Training Program

This is a new Blog devoted to Church Consultation. I recently attended an Interim Ministry Conference in Nashville. We spoke about mediation, consultation and how to change the mindset of many congregations today. Below is my review of a post conference seminar program. Review: Peter Steinke’s A Door Set Open and New Visions Training Program Peter Steinke has been a…

Racheting down tension

Sometimes in mediation two parties are more bent on hurting and destroying each other than working things out. They may even prolong a mediation to hurt each other. Sometimes, the best thing a mediator can do is to simply end the session and give parties space and time to calm down. Sometimes this can be…