One of the big challenges of pastoral ministry is dealing with being criticized…especially by members of the congregation you serve. In an article on this topic, Craig Cable observed:

“I recently had candid conversations with two wonderful friends in ministry regarding a pastor’s need for thick skin. During one of these conversations, my associate pastor friend shared that a disgruntled church member recently sent the senior pastor an absolutely scathing letter via registered mail. This unorthodox method of delivery ensured that the pastor would read and feel every toxic word that was spewed out on paper. I thought, ‘What infraction could possibly warrant a nasty letter like that?’

“My second conversation was with the wife of a pastor. She told me that they’re constantly receiving criticism from outspoken parishioners. In spite of their best efforts, someone is always going to be upset and she and her husband were always going to hear about it. With a trembling voice and tears in her eyes, she confided that they’re often left wondering if they can do anything right. I can only imagine how daunting and discouraging that must feel week after week, year after year.

It doesn’t escape me that pastors are under immense pressure. Aside from pouring their lives into helping children, youth, and adults grow in their relationships with Jesus, they’re also the lightning rod for everyone’s frustrations. They have to be compassionate and grace-filled in the face of adversity, scrutiny, and challenge…”
https://refreshthechurch.com/piercing-the-pastors-thick-skin

As Christian leaders we can find consolation through God’s acceptance and the indwelling life of Christ. The Chief Shepherd can provide an “equilibrium” to His undersheperds and their families:

We need to value our relationship with God more than the opinions of others. People can be so fickle! Remember how the people of Jerusalem hailed the Lord Jesus with praise on Palm Sunday, yet a mob in the same city cried “crucify Him!” only five days later! And Acts tells of the people of Lystra who wanted to worship Paul and Barnabas after the miraculous healing of a crippled man, yet ended up stoning Paul when his enemies from a neighboring city arrived (Acts 14:14-20). The opinions of others are like shifting sands, so don’t use them to calculate your worth!

The abiding life gives the disciple of Christ an inner equilibrium than can stabilize him/her from the effects of vain flattery as well as the effects of negative criticism. How reassuring that in Christ we are “accepted in the Beloved One” with “no condemnation” and the promise that “all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose” (Eph. 1:6; Rom. 8:1,28).

When criticized by opponents in Corinth (a church God used him to plant), Paul responded:

“But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I know nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God” (1 Cor. 4:2-5).

You find inner security by looking to Christ to meet your ultimate needs.

“If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us” (Rom. 8:31-34).

So when complements come your way, lay them at the feet of the Champion of our salvation. And when “brickbats” of harsh criticism come sailing through the air, catch ’em and assemble an altar of praise to our God.

May we appropriate grace to keep our balance when criticisms come.

J.B.W.

Read the full article here: https://gracenotebook.com/bouquets-and-brickbats/