Conflict in Churches

Susek in his book FIRESTORM uses the illustration of a firestorm (or in the Australian context, a bushfire) to demonstrate the evolution of church conflict in six phases.

 The first phase is the Sparks which occur because of the natural dynamics of human relationship - managing these sparks well can prevent the occurrence of a firestorm, however ignoring or abusing them will allow conflict to evolve into the second phase Ignition. Here one or more of the sparks suddenly ignite a destructive conflict (figuratively a small blaze) which if left to itself will grow into a firestorm.

Phase three is the Firestorm in full fury. Destructive conflict causes pain and devastation to those involved. Phase four are the Consuming Winds which continue destruction as the blaze of conflict spread wider than the initial incident.

This in turn may lead to the fifth phase of a Final Burn which describes the possibility of litigation and official reprimand. The sixth phase recognises the need to recover from conflict and Rebuild on Burnt Timber.

Have you seen church conflict evolve through these levels?  Can the 'sparks' be handled in a constructive way to encourage growth and discourage the flash burns of destructive conflict?  What do we put in place in our churches to manage this conflict?