Though the circumstances may be less spectacular, conflicts between Christians are not rare and are always painful. It would be unusual to find a Global Project team anywhere which has not had similar times of tension. And if you ve ever served on an I-V chapter s leadership team or even just been part of a small group, you know that those groups are not exempt either. In fact, the entire Christian church, from missionaries to choir members, seems at times to be marked more by conflict than by caring. No, we have not failed our Lord or our mission.
Conflict is part of the human condition.
It s a full, three-dimensional way of life. The source of all our problems can be traced back to the beginning of human history and the tragic events in the Garden of Eden. They weren t guilty because they were naked, but rather they became ashamed of their nakedness because of their guilt. Inner peace was only a memory. The shalom of the Garden, a Hebrew word meaning peace and completeness in the fullest sense, was gone, leaving a dark cloud of fear, shame, guilt and conflict.