Leadership and Critics
Whatever your thoughts are about the President of the United States one thing is certain, that has to be a lonely place. As the leader of the nation you are on stage for everyone to see 24 hours a day. When you are on vacation you are scrutinized for where you went, how you got there, and what you are doing. Every decision you make is analyzed and spun in multiple directions to feed the political masses along party lines. You may or may not agree or like the President, but the one thing I am certain of I wouldn't want that task. His role of leadership defines not only the nation but who he is as well. People much less qualified than the president constantly call him out, claim they can do better, and always reference all of the problems that he has not taken care of while diminishing anything good as mediocre at best. In todays world critics hide behind blogs, tweets, and Facebook profiles - criticizing without offering solution (or outrageous solutions that have no merit or ability to be accomplished), and attacking the very position they would never dare take because they know the lonely place that it is.
Funny, leaders in the church feel like this quite often. Often times those who are critical of leaders in the church are critical hiding behind gossip and back room conversations. They attack what they do not know and offer no solution only critical remarks as they cower behind their words. Paul outlines a follower - leader relationship, Christ clearly demonstrates the proper means to conflict resolution, and quite clearly the Bible reveals that cowardly critics damage to the Church which is the very body of Christ. Leaders need not feel lonely in ministry if Christians live lives that are truly in Christ.
Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:12-15 to the church in Thessalonica "We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves...but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone." Clearly Pauls view of leadership is one where leaders in the church are that those who follow should be respectful of them, not criticizing them or attacking them but instead seeking to encourage them, love them, and be peaceable. Paul knew well the loneliness of leadership and the cowardice of attacks as he faced them time and time again yet his heart was that it be not so among Christians. As followers of Christ our desire should and must be to imitate God (Eph 5:1) and live peaceably among our brothers and sisters in Christ so that we manifest the very presence of Christ among us as His body. This means gossip and cowardly attacks have no place in the church.
Christ outlines in Matthew 18:15-20 a very non cowardly means to respond if one feels they have a valid complaint, issue, or injury brought upon by another member of the body of Christ, even one in a leadership position. Instead of gossip (that is talking to everyone but the person you are talking about), instead of attacks hidden behind the veil of anonymity (that is complaining about something or someone to the world instead of approaching the one with whom you have a problem face to face), Christ calls us to bring the issues before one another, face to face, Christian to Christian. If that doesn't work the process leads up and into church discipline as well. Christ calls us to work things out with grace, mercy, forgiveness, and reconciliation as an end.
Finally and most importantly when we criticize and attack we tear down the body of Christ. Romans 12:5 states that we (those of us saved by grace through Christ's redeeming forgiveness) are the body. Each of us individually make up the body of Christ corporately as the church with Him (Christ Jesus) as the head. When we attack fellow Christians, when we criticize leadership, we effectively tear down the very body we claim to be a part of. It gives the world an improper view of what Christ desires us as His bride, the church, to be. In an even more dramatic fashion it shows a lack of submission to His authority by ignoring His leadership here (see 1 Timothy 3 and Titus for the establishment of leadership in the church for starters).
In the end the truth is all leadership is under scrutiny and it can be very lonely. But the good news is that if Christians act accordingly to Christ it should not nor does it have to be lonely. The critics in the church would find less platform if other Christians pointed them to the Biblical method for reconciliation and if they just want to gossip, complain, enflame, or otherwise bash leadership to ignore them. My daddy always said "If you don't have anything good to say, then don't say it." I'll add this "If you can't go to the one your gossiping about then you really don't want reconciliation, you just want to gossip" - that in and of itself if sin (Matt 12:36, Eph 4:29;31, Gal 6:7-10, 1 Peter 3:10;16).
Let us lift our leadership up in prayer and encourage them. If you have a problem, then go to them. It is always easier to criticize, it is much more difficult to love, encourage, forgive, show mercy, give grace, and pray.
Funny, leaders in the church feel like this quite often. Often times those who are critical of leaders in the church are critical hiding behind gossip and back room conversations. They attack what they do not know and offer no solution only critical remarks as they cower behind their words. Paul outlines a follower - leader relationship, Christ clearly demonstrates the proper means to conflict resolution, and quite clearly the Bible reveals that cowardly critics damage to the Church which is the very body of Christ. Leaders need not feel lonely in ministry if Christians live lives that are truly in Christ.
Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:12-15 to the church in Thessalonica "We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves...but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone." Clearly Pauls view of leadership is one where leaders in the church are that those who follow should be respectful of them, not criticizing them or attacking them but instead seeking to encourage them, love them, and be peaceable. Paul knew well the loneliness of leadership and the cowardice of attacks as he faced them time and time again yet his heart was that it be not so among Christians. As followers of Christ our desire should and must be to imitate God (Eph 5:1) and live peaceably among our brothers and sisters in Christ so that we manifest the very presence of Christ among us as His body. This means gossip and cowardly attacks have no place in the church.
Christ outlines in Matthew 18:15-20 a very non cowardly means to respond if one feels they have a valid complaint, issue, or injury brought upon by another member of the body of Christ, even one in a leadership position. Instead of gossip (that is talking to everyone but the person you are talking about), instead of attacks hidden behind the veil of anonymity (that is complaining about something or someone to the world instead of approaching the one with whom you have a problem face to face), Christ calls us to bring the issues before one another, face to face, Christian to Christian. If that doesn't work the process leads up and into church discipline as well. Christ calls us to work things out with grace, mercy, forgiveness, and reconciliation as an end.
Finally and most importantly when we criticize and attack we tear down the body of Christ. Romans 12:5 states that we (those of us saved by grace through Christ's redeeming forgiveness) are the body. Each of us individually make up the body of Christ corporately as the church with Him (Christ Jesus) as the head. When we attack fellow Christians, when we criticize leadership, we effectively tear down the very body we claim to be a part of. It gives the world an improper view of what Christ desires us as His bride, the church, to be. In an even more dramatic fashion it shows a lack of submission to His authority by ignoring His leadership here (see 1 Timothy 3 and Titus for the establishment of leadership in the church for starters).
In the end the truth is all leadership is under scrutiny and it can be very lonely. But the good news is that if Christians act accordingly to Christ it should not nor does it have to be lonely. The critics in the church would find less platform if other Christians pointed them to the Biblical method for reconciliation and if they just want to gossip, complain, enflame, or otherwise bash leadership to ignore them. My daddy always said "If you don't have anything good to say, then don't say it." I'll add this "If you can't go to the one your gossiping about then you really don't want reconciliation, you just want to gossip" - that in and of itself if sin (Matt 12:36, Eph 4:29;31, Gal 6:7-10, 1 Peter 3:10;16).
Let us lift our leadership up in prayer and encourage them. If you have a problem, then go to them. It is always easier to criticize, it is much more difficult to love, encourage, forgive, show mercy, give grace, and pray.
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