WayFinder Leadership Training

By Marianne Vangoor  |  April 11th

Love of God and Love of Neighbour was the scriptural North Star for the WayFinder training hosted last week in Cambridge. Even if you weren’t able to attend the event, you could implement some key truths and relevant practices if you’d like to transform conflict into opportunities for discipleship and witness rather than threats.

Some key truths emphasized at the training included:

• As believers, we trust that Christ holds all things together
• Conflict is normal and expected
• The goal of conflict transformation is to follow Jesus
• Conflict transformation requires focus on both process and substance of the conflict
• Using covenantal communication rather than defensive communication can help us engage in conflict that demonstrates love of God and neighbour

As leaders, we know that clear communication is vital for an organization to flourish. The WayFinder training gave us 5 key practices of covenantal communication that will be helpful no matter the topic of conflict.

Go Toward – Make bids for connection with those you would rather avoid. Lead with generosity and assume good intentions as you look for external reasons for the actions of others.

Go Godward – Pause and pray throughout conflict conversations – make prayer more than bookends. Among other things, ask the Spirit to move.

Get Curious – Have a posture of humility and seek to learn about the perspectives of others while asking curious questions.

Go Deep – Uncover the fears that are at stake – fear of loss and protection of what we love. Identify shared loves and move into vulnerability.

Get Right – Repair missteps. Confess and seek forgiveness as the next faithful steps are considered.

Here’s what a few other attendees learned …. What could be applied to your situation?

WayFinder Reflection #1

By Raymond Verburg, Principal, Community Christian School, Drayton, ON

“Conflict is an opportunity for discipleship and witness. Conflict is where our hearts become formed.” These are two statements that resonated with me during the WayFinder Leadership Training and Development program. If you are like me, you do not like conflict but know that it is a part of living in community. I appreciated how the WayFinder training reinforced the idea that conflict and restoration are part of our mission as Christian schools. They gave us the vision and tools to approach conflict with a Christian posture of humility and faithfulness. I deeply appreciated how the WayFinder vision for conflict transformation is wrapped in prayer, specifically the rhythm of invocation, bible reading, praise, lament,  hope, and finishing by reciting the Lord’s Prayer as a community. The two days gave me hope that unity in Christ can be maintained amidst conflict.

WayFinder Reflection #2

By Amanda Breimer, Vice-Principal, Calvin Christian School - Unity Campus, Hamilton, ON

Conflict is normal and expected when doing life in community. So why is it that we so often view conflict as something to avoid, and when we can’t, our conversations are often charged with emotions and divisiveness? WayFinder provided a new perspective on how we approach conflict. As Christians, we can view conflict as a gift from God that if we lean into, our hearts can become more like Christ. Instead of mimicking the world we live in, which is polarized and antagonistic, we can show the world hope as we enter conflicting topics while focusing on our “North Star;” loving God and loving our neighbour. From there we will begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit.

Being in my first year of administration, the WayFinder training provided me the tools to practice covenantal communication amongst students, staff, and school community and to build relationships and trust through conflict while practicing a posture of humility.

Marianne Vangoor is the Director of Leadership at Edvance