CHUNNEL
CONFLICT

Topics: Church; Conflict; Cooperation; Division; Unity

References: John 17:11; Ephesians 4:4–6; James 1:5–8

The English Channel tunnel connecting England with France, later called the Chunnel, was a two-headed beast from the start. Two mammoth firms were heading the project—one charged with finance and operation, the other responsible for building the chunnel. Each of these companies was also two-headed—equally French and British.

No one was allowed to take charge. Leadership, more times than not, was reduced to the management of conflict. Said a high-ranking executive, “The project … created a lot of tension because it [was] not geared to solving problems; it [was] geared to placing blame.” The English yelled at the French, and the French yelled at the English. Said another executive, “There were nervous breakdowns galore.”

The problems were primarily due to a lack of shared standards. The two countries had a different word for everything. The French had their accounting system; so did the English. The French ran on 380 volts; the British on 420. Instruction manuals were bilingual. There were even two different standards used to measure sea level.

“When you have people coming from two different nations,” said one of the engineers, “each believes that only their regulations are right.”

—Robert Lewis with Rob Wilkins, The Church of Irresistible Influence (Zondervan, 2001)