Churches that have a low standard for membership shouldn’t be surprised by grumbling.
Thom Rainer:
For years I assumed that criticisms of pastors and other church staff was just part of leadership. Indeed, no leader to my knowledge has ever been spared the verbal or written jabs of the critic.
So my advice has been for the leader simply to move on; to focus more on the vast majority who are supportive of him than the relatively few not-so-well-intentioned dragons. Now I’m not so sure my former advice is sound. The level and frequency of criticisms toward pastors and other leaders has increased significantly in the past several years.
The Reasons Behind the Great Distraction
I call this resurgence in criticisms “the Great Distraction” because it often causes leaders to lose focus on leading their churches in the Great Commission. And though any rationale used to explain the increased negativity is subjective, my observations of working with churches for over 25 years lead me to a couple of conclusions.
Read the whole thing here.
This was great and it will be something I tuck away when that time of criticism comes not only for me as a leader but as a member of our church hearing the criticism.