CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN PENTECOSTAL CHURCHES: A STUDY OF SELECfED PENTECOSTAL CHURCHES IN IBADAN

Abstract

Conflict is endemic in religious institutions and the Pentecostal churches; a component is not left out. Conflict is a situation of disagreements, arguments, clash of interests, loyalties and emotions. It is evident where there are opposing ideas, opinions, feelings, wishes, and beliefs. It is a situation of incompatible goals. Interaction is the bane of conflict. Pentecostal churches involve social human beings and as such not free from conflict. This is an ethnographic study which employed qualitative approach of data collection such as key informant interviews and participant observation complimented with secondary data, anchored on Victor Turner's theory of social drama. The study combines emic (insider's) and etic (outsider's) perspectives in data collection. Method of analysis is purely descriptive. Some anthropological extrapolations were made thereby unraveling causes, incidences of conflicts and the techniques of conflict resolution employed by selected Pentecostal churches studied.