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Procedure for Conflict Resolution

Adopted by Elders & Administration Team

on 21/04/2020

Purpose

The Procedure for Conflict Resolution (the Procedure) sets out a procedure for

resolving conflict between two or more staff, volunteers, members or attenders

of the Church in a pastoral and restorative manner, rather than through a formal

complaint handling procedure.

It is important to identify that some issues cannot be resolved in this manner, and this

Procedure is not designed to:

• resolve issues relating to domestic violence, family law matters before the Family

Law Court (or similar body),

• resolve complaints or concerns relating to abuse (including Child Sexual Abuse or

Sexual Misconduct involving a Child) or other serious breaches of the Code of

Conduct that are to be resolved in accordance with the Complaint Handling

Procedure; or

• replace any process set out in the Constitution of the Church in relation to the

disciplining or removal of members from membership of the Church.

Scope

The Procedure applies to all staff, volunteers, members and attendees of the

Church.

An attendee is a person who regularly attends (at least once a month) a

ministry of the church (for example, Sunday services, Bible study, Friday night

youth group).

The Procedure should be read in conjunction with the Safe Church

Policy and:

• Staff and Volunteers Code of Conduct

• Procedure for Handling Complaints against Staff or Volunteers

• Procedure for Responding to Child Protection Concerns

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When does this procedure apply?

Situations to which this policy applies include the following:

a) a disagreement between two or more staff, volunteers, members or attenders of

the Church;

b) a perceived offence caused by a staff member, volunteer, member or attendee

to another;

c) a perception by one person that they have been bullied by a staff member,

volunteer, member or attendee (and that it is a matter that is able to be resolved

in a pastoral manner);

d) dissatisfaction with the manner in which a staff member or volunteer has fulfilled

their ministry role; and

e) a complaint that a staff member or volunteer has committed a minor breach of

the Code of Conduct.

Raising an issue

a) Anyone may raise an issue

• with a person directly (see Pathway 1).

• with Church Leadership or the Safe Church Team in order to seek

assistance in resolving the issue (see Pathway 1, Pathway 2 and Pathway

3).

b) If the concern relates to a member of the Church Leadership or the Safe Church

Team, the person should raise their concern with another member of the

Church Leadership or Safe Church Team.

Key Principles

a) In raising an issue, all parties are to be guided by the following key principles:

• Seeking to glorify God in our responses to each other.

• Striving to serve each other even in the midst of our disunity.

• Seeking to be Christ-like in our reactions to each other.

• Extending grace to each other.

• Focusing on forgiveness and restoration of relationships where

appropriate.

• Seeking help where needed, to address grievances.

a) The Church acknowledges that:

• the nature of relationship breakdown means that it is necessary to respond

sensitively and with care for all parties involved;

• in many conflict situations, to help each party understand the key issues

and ways forward, the assistance of a neutral third party becomes

essential;

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• many issues are specific to a particular context and relationship and so

must be responsive to this, seeking resolution of substantive issues and

where possible, appropriate restoration of relationships between all

parties;

• the pathway recommended by Church Leadership will depend upon the

nature of the issue, the positions or roles of the parties involved and the

skills and capacity of Church Leadership to address the situation.

Pathway 1 – Personal Approach

a) Where an issue arises between a staff member, volunteer, member or attendee

and another and the parties feel able to address their concerns without involving

other parties, they are to go to the other person and express their concerns with

a view to resolving their differences in accordance with Matthew 18:15-17.

b) The person initiating the personal approach should consider seeking counsel

from a wise and unbiased senior leader (from within the church community or

externally) or receiving conflict coaching before approaching the other person.

c) This approach may be useful for addressing personal disagreements and

perceived offences. This pathway will not be appropriate where there are

concerns about significant power imbalances.

Pathway 2 – Locally-assisted Approach

a) In the event of any of the following then the matter should be brought to the

attention of Church Leadership.

• Pathway 1 being unsuccessful in restoring relationship; and/or

• the issue relates to perceived bullying; and/or

• the issue relates to dissatisfaction with the manner in which a staff

member or volunteer has performed their ministry role.

b) If an issue is brought to the Church Leadership

• Church Leadership are to provide support to all parties.

• Where the Church Leadership considers the issue to be sufficiently

serious, they are to appoint a suitably skilled person to assist in resolving

the conflict. This may be a senior member of the pastoral staff. Church

Leadership are to avoid conflicts of interest where possible when selecting

this person. In some cases, for example, where the conflict involves the

Senior Pastor, a church consultant from the Baptist Churches of NSW &

ACT may be requested.

c) Where all parties involved in the matter are willing to work towards restoring

relationships, the person selected to assist in resolving the conflict will:

• value confidentiality at all times;

• meet with each person separately to ensure they are given a chance to tell

their story in private, working through their underlying concerns in moving

towards resolution;

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• clearly communicate the process to be used to each party during

resolution meetings;

• hold a meeting with the parties together to identify common ground, work

through the issues and determine the course of action;

• follow up to ensure that the solutions are being implemented; and

• if appropriate, monitor the situation over the following weeks, including to

check-in with the parties to ensure that the situation is resolving and that

relationships are being restored.

d) At any stage throughout the process, the person selected to assist resolve the

issue may contact Baptist Churches of NSW & ACT for assistance or

resourcing.

Pathway 3 – Escalation to Procedure for Handling Complaints against

Staff or Volunteers

During the course of resolving a concern in accordance with this Procedure, it

may be necessary to escalate the matter in accordance with the Procedure for

Handling Complaints Against Staff and Volunteers. There may be several

reasons this is required, including:

• that on inquiry into the issue it is identified that the conduct complained of would

more appropriately be characterised as a serious breach of the Code of

Conduct (such as child protection concerns; or

• the subject of the concern is a staff member or volunteer and they are not

willing to participate in this Procedure (as required under the Code of Conduct).

Escalation to membership removal process

During the course of resolving an issue in accordance with this Procedure, it

may be necessary to escalate the matter to the process for removing someone

from membership of the Church as prescribed in the Constitution of the Church

– see Section D - Membership.