Walking Away Is Not an Option
What do you do when conflict happens in the team?
You know, someone says something that offends someone else, and hurt feelings divide the unity that you all have worked to establish. The easy thing is to walk away from the relationship or to walk away from the team if you were the person who was offended. You could just quit, give up on everything you’ve built and ignore the fact that God called you to be on that team with those people to demonstrate the unity He created in the Church through Jesus Christ.
We should ask for forgiveness if we have offended someone, but asking for forgiveness is not just saying, “I’m sorry,” because that could mean I’m sorry that you were offended, not I’m sorry for what I said or did. When I make a mistake and say something that creates offense, I will apologize by saying, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was wrong in saying what I said. Will you please forgive me?”
We all want to make excuses and defend our actions. “Well, I wasn’t feeling well” or “I was distracted or stressed,” etc. Maybe you didn’t feel well or you were distracted, but people are valuable and precious, and your relationship with them is important enough for you to swallow your pride and admit you were wrong and careless with your words.
If you were the person who was offended, you have the opportunity to follow the scripture that says we should walk in love (Ephesians 5:1-2) and to act like God who loved us even when we were not a part of His family (Ephesians 2:4).
Holding on to hurt is a choice. There is freedom in forgiving others.
When we refuse to forgive or we refuse to ask for forgiveness, and we choose to remain on the worship team, the resulting disunity can be sensed by the congregation during worship. They will sense that something is wrong; it’s off.
Walking away from the team because you are hurt or because someone is offended with what you’ve said is not an option. You’ll just be carrying the issue with you until it’s resolved. Deal with it, resolve the conflict and follow Paul’s words in Ephesians 4:3 to preserve the unity of the Spirit.
Your relationships within the team are some of the best relationships that you’ll have anywhere, and they are worth preserving.
