Results from last year's "Faith Communities Today" (FACT) survey provide a fascinating snapshot of conflict in Presbyterian congregations. Let's take a look.
Of the 541 PC(USA) congregations that responded (61 percent of those surveyed), 79 percent reported "disagreements or conflicts" during the prior five years. The average congregation cited conflict in three of the nine listed areas. Severity was most often described as not very serious (54 percent of responses were of this type), followed by moderately serious (30 percent) and very serious (16 percent)
What were folks fighting about? A lot of different things, it turns out (see the figure). Most widespread were financial disagreements: a small majority of congregations (52 percent) reported at least one conflict in the area of "money/finances/budget." No other single category was named as a conflict source in as many as half of the congregations, but "pastor's leadership" (47 percent), "worship" (45 percent), and "who makes decisions" (42 percent) come close. The least likely subjects for conflict are "theology" (only 26 percent of congregations report conflict in this area) and "pastor's personal behavior" (also 26 percent).
The figure also reveals that the seriousness of conflict varies by topic. For example, the large majority of congregations that indicated any conflict over worship describe it as not very serious, with fewer than one in ten labeling it as very serious. At the other extreme, more than half of the congregations reporting conflicts over pastor's leadership style or personal behavior label the conflict as very serious or moderately serious.
Some conflict remains in a third of the congregations that reported either moderately serious or very serious conflict in at least one category. While resolution has occurred in the rest, scars remain in many. More specifically, in congregations that have had serious conflict in the previous five years:
The FACT results are unique because parallel surveys were sent to national samples of congregations in more than 40 faith groups. In future articles, I'll look at how conflict and other features of PC(USA) congregations compare with similar phenomena in other denominations.
For a summary of the PC(USA) FACT survey, go to the PCUSA FACT website. For more information on FACT generally, go to the FACT website.
Email the author: Jack Marcum
Research Services