Book Review #5: A Pastor's Guide to Understanding & Overcoming Church Conflict

 Know and Deal With Thy Enemy.  Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2026

I chose this book, "A Pastor's Guide to Understanding and Overcoming Church Conflict," to gain some insight into how to deal with fellow members of a local political group. I have been both puzzled and dismayed at their actions, as they are dividing the group and greatly interfering with the positive impact we can have in the community. While the book obviously comes at the topic of antagonists within a religious framework, I firmly believe Rev. Manby's advice can be applied to many fields of employment. He stresses the importance of communication and finding "win-win" solutions, addressing personal attacks privately at first, being aware of antagonistic behavior (chapter 4) and addressing it quickly. He also offers excellent advice on overcoming this type of behavior, whether through your faith, with the assistance of others, with music and humor, and/or by giving yourself time to heal spiritually, mentally and/or physically. "A Pastor's Guide to Understanding and Overcoming Church Conflict" is very well-written and organized. Despite the heavy topic, it is an easy read. I especially appreciated the inclusion of the author's personal experiences as a pastor and was very dismayed to read that in the US in 2008, 1500 pastors left their positions EACH month and nearly half of those people left the ministry for another occupation. Sadly, this echoes the job-turnover in education, where 50% of new teachers have quit the profession by their fifth year. I speak from personal experience that adult-to-adult bullying is rampant in public education. Obviously, something needs to be done to quickly and effectively deal with antagonists. This book, "A Pastor's Guide to Understanding and Overcoming Church Conflict," offers a lot of very sage advice on how to accomplish that. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Robin Maloney