Sharks, Turtles, Teddybears and Foxes

On of the biggest topics that we covered while at SPLICE was conflict. This can be a huge issue on the mission field because if you don't know how to handle conflict that can lead to many problems and many times as a result of unresolved conflict missionaries leave the field. This is just a snapshot of what we learned, but it was so good! :)

When we started to talk about conflict Robin told us that after the first year on the field, 84% of missionaries leave the location they are at, switch teams/agency or leave the field all together because of conflict with other missionaries from their home country. This stat is crazy to think about so you can see the importance of realizing how you yourself handle conflict but also how others handle conflict. So with that said here is a guess a head up to all who are missionaries or want to become missionaries: "If you are not willing to grow in your conflict management, Please: don't go to the misson field or find a way to the the mission ASAP" Learning how to manage conflict is a huge issue in cross cultural ministry and it must be addressed.

As we learned about conflict we learned about conflict handling styles...there are four main styles: the are the Sharks(who are the competing Style), the Turtles(the avoiding style), the teddybears(the accommodating style) and the foxes(the compromising style). We learned all about these styles and the advantages and disadvantages, but more importantly we learned how to relate to people with different conflict styles. When in cross cultural ministry you have to learn to exit your world and enter the other persons world, that means that you can't expect that they see everything just as you do and don't get me wrong this process is so hard and so against our culture but that is when you need to rely on God and cry out "God Help". You also need to suspend judgement and remember that different is just different not wrong. This sounds a lot easier than it actually is and I think that it is something that I am going to have to work at because I don't like to exit my world and my comfort zone but to be effective in ministry it will benifit me if I exit my world and enter their world.

This was so good to learn about and such a good learning experience and although it will be hard at times, I am so thankful that we learned about these conflict issues that will arise not only while we are still here in the States but also on the field.