Church Conflict Resolution and Mediation: A Professional Training Programme for Nigerian Pastors

Church conflict is a pervasive reality in Nigerian church life, frequently resulting in congregational splits, leadership crises, and community harm. Despite the pastoral mandate for reconciliation, most Nigerian pastors receive minimal training in conflict resolution and mediation skills. This study develops a professional conflict resolution and mediation training programme specifically designed for Nigerian church pastors. A programme design methodology was adopted, incorporating a conflict resolution competency needs assessment administered to 70 Nigerian pastors across Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt, supplemented by case analysis of ten documented Nigerian church conflict resolution processes and interviews with six experienced ecclesial mediators. Existing conflict resolution curricula were assessed for contextual applicability. The developed programme addresses eight competency areas: theological foundations of reconciliation, conflict analysis and assessment, active listening and empathy, negotiation principles, mediation process facilitation, community discernment procedures, post-conflict reconciliation and healing, and ethical obligations in church mediation. Each competency area is grounded in biblical narrative and includes experiential role-play exercises contextualised for Nigerian church settings. Pilot delivery to 25 pastors confirmed significant competency development. The study recommends that denominational training institutions across Nigeria adopt this programme as a required ministerial formation module and that the Christian Association of Nigeria establish an accredited church mediator certification track.

Keywords: church conflict resolution, mediation training, pastors, ministerial formation, Nigeria