Well-Intentioned Dragons: Ministering to Problem People in the Church

Every Christian leader must deal with those in the Church who simply believe God has called them to clean up the Church or be the believer who fights changes. Every pastor I know of (including myself) has had to deal with angry, bitter members who seem to fight with every person in the Church and fight any changes the church wants to make even if the changes are for the good of the church (such as evangelism of minorities). This book offers insights into these well intentioned dragons. The book explores various accounts of pastors and church leaders in their almost daily struggles with dragons. These dragons have ruined pastors lives without knowing it and many have ruined entire ministries. Some of the stories end with a truce but many end with pastors leaving the church and the dragons continuing to tear down lives. Over all, this book is great. It offers practical advice on how to deal with dragons and when is it time to go. The book is not a cure for dragons (I know because I gave this book to a dragon and he simply said, "Yes, we need to watch out for these types of people in the church") but it does give a leader comfort to know that their battle is not alone and that many other leaders are in the same struggle with well intentioned dragons.

I read this book when it was first published years ago, and have just finished reading it again. After twenty years of pastoral ministry, I find the conflict stories of well-intentioned dragons to ring true with my own experience. I can also see how the insights gained from reading this book the first time have helped me in dealing with many difficult church members I have encountered.Shelley's theme is found in one of his introductory remarks:"The rest of this book deals with various kinds of dragons, their tactics, and the ways to handle them. But from the beginning a premise stands clear: the goal in handling dragons is not to destroy them, not merely to disassociate, but to make them disciples. Even when that seems an unlikely prospect" (p. 34).This book is directed towards pastors, but contains helpful lessons for all church leaders. I can't think of a better, more insightful title on church conflict. This one is essential reading for everyone who even occasionally has to respond to conflict within a congregation.

Shelly's book ought to be assigned reading for anyone considering ministry or church leadership. The reality of conflict in churches is too often treated as a family secret of which Christians should be ashamed. Ministers who go into ministry unprepared for the difficult behavior may be devastated by it. Shelly's book shows you how truly bizarre and painful church conflicts can be. Furthermore, most church conflict resources are focused on problem driven conflict, rather than personality driven conflict. These types of conflicts call for different approaches and skills. If there is a weakness in Shelly's book, it is that it offers fewer solutions than might be desired. However, the vividness and reality of the situations, and the strength of the writing more than make up for this. A good companion book would be: Never Call Them Jerks: Healthy Responses to Difficult Behavior by Arthur Paul Boers.

Shelley includes actual situations from pastors and how they dealt with the well-intentioned dragons from their congregations. It helped to see that we weren't the only people struggling. The book also helped me to see that sometimes I'm the dragon! The author also included instances where the situation didn't work out and have a happy ending. I recommend this book to anyone in any sort of leadership role within the church.

This was a good book. Easy reading and easy to understand. The book was written to "alert" pastors about "well-intentioned saint" who pose problems that can be detrimental to a pastor and the congregation. Shelly (the author) provides in-sights as to the "dragons" and how you might deal with such persons. This is good reading regarding conflict management.