Antagonists would act this way with anyone

books:

	• Antagonists in the Church: How to Identify and Deal With Destructive Conflict Kenneth C. Haugk Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 1988 - 189 pages average customer review:based on 22 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Antagonists in the Church

An outstanding book. It describes these people perfectly. A must read for every Christian worker in today's society.

Helps you keep your sanity when undermined

I attended an outreach conference. This book was the first to sell out on the book table. Pastors think they are called to keep everyone happy. They have no idea about dysfunctional antagonists who first put you on a pedestal and then tear you down later when you somehow fail them and their agendae. Haugk counsels church leaders not to be paranoid, but to trust their sixth sense, too. Chapters four and five on the makeup and modus operandi of the antagonist are the key portion of the book. Sadly, antagonists, or potential antagonists, exist in every congregation. While this book will help you understand what is happening, it may not enable you to counter the destructive actions of that antagonist entirely. There is not always a happy ending.

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Antagonists would act this way with anyone - even Christ Himself!

No one who has had to personally dealt with antagonistic individuals in a church setting or watched the damage such people can create will be able read Kenneth Haugk's book with anything less that a sigh of relief in realizing that such people are not reacting to some failure in your Christian conduct, but would act this ways with anyone.

The author provide excellent material and explainations for why these type of people must be meet with opposition from the entire body of the congergation and not just the pastor and church board members. This advise run contrary to the way most churches try and handle conflict doing their utmost to avoid involving the entire congergation and yet the method of involving limited personel leaves the congergations at risk and unwittingly plays into the hands of the antagonist who has no concern like you do about trying to protect the weak and nieve, indeed the antagonist has no qualms about recruiting just such ones as followers. In the author's words, "Turning the other cheek and letting the antogonist continue to behave disruptively is the wide and easy road that leads to destruction."

My only real complaint is that the examples were mostly of congergational members being antagonistic. This is understandable as it is the most common situation, but dealing with an associate minister who was antagonistic it would have been nice to have a little more informations on leaders who become antagonistic.

Most useful were sections on how to conduct interviews with antagonists. using authority, documentation, and to leave or not to leave.

If you have ever had to deal with antagonists you are going to wish you'd had this book. If you are dealing with antagonists, you NEED the book. Finally if you are a minister or church leader, board member, etc. and haven't had to face an antagonist, praise God for his mercy and read this book so you can be prepared for what's coming. Rare is the minister or church that escapes them and blessed is the church whom's leaders and members are prepared to effectively deal with it.

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Why wasn't this taught in divinity school

For a church that is in conflict, this book will help keep you sane.

Must read

I found this book to be very enlightening in dealing with antagonism in the church. It is well organized and well written and very informative. I am having my elders read the book so that they can understand the dynamics behind conflict and how to deal with it. I wish I would have read it years ago before some of the church discipline issues we have had to deal with already. Many of those issues could have been avoided.

Frank

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Kenneth Haugk shows how congregational leaders can prevent or reduce much of the pain and suffering caused by antagonism in the church. He distinguishes between healthy conflict and destructive antagonism and shows how to cope productively with disruption.

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