Managing Conflict in Faith-Based Organizations in Zimbabwe

Norman Chivasa

A chapter in Organizational Conflict - New Insights from IntechOpen

Abstract: One of the basic theories commonly believed in the secular world today is that conflict is inevitable which means that individuals and groups have needs, interests, dislikes, likes, partnerships, values and preferences which are often not compatible. This is also true of faith-based organizations. Using the Apostolic Faith Mission in Zimbabwe church as a point of reference, this article argues that in Christian circles there is need to deliberately develop a perspective of conflict that reflects conflict as a positive force that generates both co-existence and growth in the church to counter the conventional view in the majority of churches that consider conflict as a destructive force. In the Apostolic Faith Mission church, intra-church disputes have a negative effect on the wellbeing of individuals and groups (the church) as conflict creates rivalry, hostility, divisions, hate, breakaways, among others. This is because a strongly adversarial attitude to conflict of all sorts is reflected in the approach of the church to conflict and in particular, some pastors have responded with legal action against the disciplinary activities of the church. Consequently, this article suggests that faith-based organizations should appreciate the importance of conflict for positive growth and development as a good number of Christians today are still pessimistic about conflict.

Keywords: Apostolic Faith Mission church; conflict; faith-based organization; Zimbabwe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/76373 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ito:pchaps:221350

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.96932

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from IntechOpen
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Slobodan Momcilovic ().