“It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.” Somewhere in the Psalms.
In a newspaper interview, Jeffrey Katzenberg spoke about movie-making lessons he learned from Walt Disney.
Walt believed that an animated movie was only as good as its villain. I never forgot that.
Villains make the story. Villains turn ordinary people into heroes. Villains rivet our attention on the plot. Villains keep us fixated on the story until justice is served.
The greatest drama of the Twentieth Century was the Second World War. Think about its villains–Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito, and yes, Joseph Stalin, too. Without that war and those villains, we would never have heard of heroes such as Generals Eisenhower, Patton, MacArthur, and Montgomery. That war made Winston Churchill arguably into England’s Man of the Century.
As a pastor, you have encountered your own set of villains. You’ve noticed that they fall into two camps. One is the devil himself and all his cohorts. The other are people who are supposed to be on your side but instead of helping the program, they seem to spend their days and nights scheming and searching for ways to bring it down.
Paul cautioned the elders of Ephesus to expect the same two groups of villains. After my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And, from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them (Acts 20:29-30).
No matter who the opposition is or where they originate, you will get on with your assignment and let the Lord sort out who among your membership are the wheat and who are the tares (cf., the parable of Matthew 13). Whichever they are, as the leader (pastor, staffer, elected leader) of the church you want to deal with them from a position of faith and strength.
Here are ten statements concerning conflict (and villains) in the church about which you might need reminding….
1) Conflict is normal.
2) Conflict is mostly good. When you want to build a muscle, you put stress on it.