Conflicts among leaders in the Christian community churches in Mwinilunga district, North Western province.
Although Conflict is inevitable, the church is widely acknowledged as one of the places where people should go for conflict resolution. This dissertation is based on a study which examined the causes of conflict more especially among church leaders in the Christian Community Church in Mwinilunga District of North Western Province. The study endeavoured to find out the causes of conflict among leaders as well as the effects of the conflict on the lives of the congregants in general and the society at large. Using data from multiple sources, this study explains why the church should be involved in dialogue in order to avoid conflicts from escalating to uncontrollable levels, such as having to drag one another to the Courts of Law for resolution. Purposeful sampling research technique was used and a total of 25 people were selected from the disputing groups for interviews. The main findings from this method of study, was that the constitution of the church had some grey areas on the part of ascension to leadership positions such as Apostleship and Overseer position respectively. It became clear that many efforts were made to resolve the conflict but they were not successful. The result also indicated that almost all the churches lost some members through defection to other churches as a result of the conflict. People’s relationships became strained creating insecurity within homes and the community. Some people were affected economically especially those that depended on bee keeping activities which are mostly done in cooperative groupings. Some people could no longer continue in the groups hence retarding their family income. Some of the leaders saw this as an opportunity to advance their education so that they could acquire the necessary requirements to qualify for leadership positions in the church. It is therefore, strongly recommended that appropriate measures be put in place towards resolving the conflict and curbing future occurrences of such conflict. Measures should include the disputing churches to organise a conference that will bring together all the members as a way to unite friends and family that have not sat at the same table since the time of the conflict. National Youth Camp meetings and National Women Conferences must be revived and encouraged as opposed to individual church arrangements. The Chiefs and Elders in Mwinilunga should be encouraged to take up their role as mediators in such conflicts so that they are not seen to be taking sides. Leaders of disputing churches should counsel the members that came from other CCC churches in their midst to consider going back to their original churches or ask their spouses and families to join them so that family ties could be preserved. This research was conducted within the context of the conflict among the leaders of the Christian Community Churches.
Church conflicts., Church management., Conflict management--Religious aspects--Christianity., Church controversies.
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