Church Conflict and Splits: How to Lead Toward Healing and Reconciliation

Church conflict and splits distress mature believers, disillusion new believers, cause havoc in the lives of pastors and their families, and bring reproach upon the name of Christ. What are the signposts of a problem that could result in a church split? How can we have good conflict management and relational leadership to address the real issues? This talk explores the causes, effects, and consequences of church splits and how to address and heal the emotional damage they produce.

Vlada Stojanovic was born and raised in Nis, Serbia, where he graduated in mechanical engineering. He spent 4 years in the UK training in missions and receiving his education in theology and leadership, at the same time working in local churches. Currently, he is finishing his master’s degree in contextual theology. He is married to Sonja, and they have two children. For the last 20 years, Vlada has been serving Good News Church in Southern Serbia, one of the least evangelised countries in Eastern Europe. Whilst many know the name of Jesus, they have been caught up in the religion of the Orthodox church rather than a personal walk with God. Vlada and Sonja ‘love fighting for every single soul'. Vlada works with local churches to strengthen them and foster unity between them, which overflows into shared church-planting missions. He enjoys preaching and speaking at training events and missions, as well as developing, supporting and encouraging leaders and mission workers. He has a great passion for contextualisation and cross-cultural mission, helping the West and the ‘rest’ to understand each other and partner more closely together.