Conflict is everywhere, including inside congregations. If you’re part of a congregation that’s in conflict, it really helps to have tools to help you understand and manage conflict. One of the most useful models for helping manage conflict in a congregation comes from the Alban Institute. The model posits that there are five levels of conflict, and as the conflict escalates up to the higher levels it gets harder to manage or resolve the conflict — and the modle helps you understand how to lower the conflict to a more manageable level.

And you can read a great summary of the five levels of conflict online, at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Rockville’s Web site. In fact, go read it now, so you’re familiar with this very useful concept before you find yourself in a congregational conflict:–

Link.

Update: the blog “Speaking Truth to Power” has an excellent piece on the limitations of this model: link.

My sense is that the Alban Institute model would not be very helpful for congregations in the middle of revelations of clergy sexual misconduct.

Speaking as one religious professional among many, I personally have found the model useful in certain high-conflict settings, used as one among many diagnostic tools that can help orient me to what’s going on around me — in such situations, if I determined that the situation was at or above level three conflict, I would know that it would be wise for me to seek outside help (at level three I’d be looking for a consultant for me, at level four+ I’d be looking for outside intervention). And I have found that lay leaders and religious professionals can often make effective use of the model for conflicts up to level three.

Thanks to uugrrl for pointing out the very real limitations of a potentially useful model — and for sharing the fact that grief counseling worked so well in her congregation’s situation. (And uugrrl, sorry for not posting my comment at your site, but Blogger refused to recognize my usename….)