On Monday I listed the seven things that I have allowed to control me at times since becoming a pastor in 2000…for the rest of the week I will attempt to deal with the specifics of each one.
Fear #1 - People Leaving
Dear pastor/ministry leader…if you don’t read anything else I read, please at least read the following…
People are GOING to LEAVE your CHURCH…and there isn’t a thing you can do about it!
I used to actually think it was my job to keep everyone who came to NewSpring…and so when someone was upset about something I had said…or something our church had done…I would literally call them and BEG them to stay!
Pastors…if you have to beg someone to stay…they are already gone! (I just started singing the Eagles song…)
I heard someone say once, “If people aren’t leaving then you are not leading.” SO TRUE! When you press into Christ & beg for His direction…He will take you in a direction that CANNOT please everyone in your church.
The fact is that there are some people in your church that do not want to go in the direction that Christ wants to go. AND…many times they are the most vocal. Letting them dominate your decisions is simply not good leadership.
Our responsibility as leaders is to seek God with our whole hearts, to lead with pure motives…and to not allow people with no vision to steal ours!
People will leave. It will hurt. You will always take in personally when someone leaves. But…keeping disgruntled church people happy should NEVER become your passion, because in doing so you prostitute the Gospel and dishonor the calling that Christ placed on your life.
#2 - People Not Liking Me
I never really seriously dealt with critics until 2005…that is when I began blogging…and I wasn’t quite ready for the firestorm that was unleashed on me and our church.
Just being brutally honest, it really does bother me when someone doesn’t like me and feels the need to attack me. I really do feel as if I am being totally obedient to Jesus and doing exactly what He has asked me to do.
I used to think that I could dialogue with people and get them to see things differently; however, doing so ALWAYS left me feeling frustrated and discourged.
Pastors, you can never win a battle with a critic who doesn’t love you…but rather loves themselves and the “correct” position that they assume that they have. EVER!!!
AND…if you begin to allow the critics to dictate the direction of your sermons and leadership…satan wins!!!
Our goal should never be to be well liked by everyone…but rather to serve Jesus with our whole hearts…and be willing to “lose the whole world” in order to honor Him!
One of THE MOST CONVICTING THINGS EVER SAID in regards to this fear was what Jesus said in Luke 6:26!!! If everyone in your church always speaks well of you…uh…according to Jesus…THAT’S NOT GOOD!
Our goal should not be to be well liked…but to be obedient!!!