Whom It May Concern:
Marcus Carlson of Preparing for Amazement Ministries came to St. Michael Lutheran (Canton, MI) as an intentional interim pastor in October 2023 after an extended period of conflict within our church. Marcus has been very effective in helping St. Michael become a healthier church by teaching on conflict, modeling how to handle conflict, and giving us the tools we need to improve how we handle and resolve conflict in our congregation.
One way that Marcus taught on conflict was in a sermon series based on his book “Habits of Healthy Churches”, which includes a chapter titled “Healthy Churches Do Conflict Well.” Many of the Bible study groups read and discussed this book in conjunction with the sermon series. This helped the congregation to better absorb the materials and to take ownership of the concepts that were presented. Marcus also routinely discussed conflict with the staff, board, and elders of the church so that the leadership would be united in modeling proper conflict resolution for the congregation and setting the clear expectation that conflict would no longer be tolerated as it had been.
Marcus assisted two of our elders in drafting a Conflict Resolution Covenant based on Matthew 18. The covenant includes principles and guidelines and the steps that will be followed when conflict arises. The covenant has been generally well received by the congregation. However, old habits die hard, so the leadership plans to revisit the covenant routinely through the newsletter, sermons, and other means to remind all of us about the need to resolve conflict in a healthy manner.
Marcus has modeled appropriate conflict resolution when members of the congregation have disagreed with him or a member of the staff. Marcus has shared some of these situations with the church leadership, along with how he addressed them, so that the leadership would learn from real-world examples. Recently the Board became aware of a situation involving conflict and saw it as a learning opportunity to handle the conflict and then get feedback from Marcus so they would be better positioned to handle conflict in the future. They reviewed the situation in light of the new Conflict Resolution Covenant and decided what the appropriate steps were to address it. This was encouraging because it indicates that the leadership has taken ownership in addressing conflict and will continue to do so going forward.
St. Michael is already healthier, experiencing much less conflict, and poised to handle any conflict that does arise in a scriptural manner. We’re all excited to see what God has in store for our congregation now that conflict is no longer dividing our congregation as it had been.
In Christ,
Amy Bruhn
Elder, St. Michael Lutheran Church
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