Speed B. Leas, Moving Your Church Through Conflict. Alban Institute, 1985.
Companion volume: Leas, Discover Your Conflict Management Style
Referenced in: Managing and Resolving Church Conflict
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
This older work by Alban Institute Senior Consultant, Speed Leas, also serves as a standard for understanding congregational conflict. Leas’ unique contribution is his Five Levels of Conflict that describes how conflicts begin as problems to solve but can escalate into intractable situations if not managed in the early stages. He suggests helpful strategies for each conflict level, including when to bring in a third party and what to expect. There is also a section on dealing with difficult individuals and tiny minorities. Leas’ two other books are excellent companion volumes, and probably form the best source for foundational training on church conflict. The first was co-authored with Paul Kittlaus, Church Fights: Managing Conflict in the Local Church (Westminster Press, 1973), written fifteen years earlier than this volume but contains more detail on the same concepts, especially helpful for someone who is preparing to intervene in conflict. Another is Discover Your Conflict Management Style. Also, George Bullard, Every Congregation Needs a Little Conflict, is an excellent adaptation of Leas’ conflict levels and conflict styles.
From the Publisher
With this how-to manual written for clergy and lay leaders, learn exactly what to do when conflict arises. Leas’ highly acclaimed theory of conflict levels spells out appropriate responses. Easily applicable concepts and practical strategies.
About the Author
Speed Leas is a nationally known consultant to religious organizations and an educator of church leaders, including pastors, laity, and church executives. For more than three decades, he has worked full-time as a teacher and consultant to ecclesiastical groups throughout the United States and Canada. He has an extensive background as a management consultant to churches and has earned a special reputation as an authority on conflict. His experience with conflicted congregations, judicatories, and church agencies places him in a preeminent position in the nation. From this work and his research, he has written eleven books and numerous articles and monographs, and has given hundreds of seminars and lectures.
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