Danger #2 - Ignorance
One of my biggest downfalls as a leader have been the times when I have assumed to know the ENTIRE story simply based on a SMALL PIECE of information, thus causing me to pass judgment because I thought I knew it all.
It’s sad…but ignorance is running rampant in Christian leadership circles.
Recently I have seen a lot of people take shot at some of the pastors of Outreach’s magazine’s list they came out with of the fastest growing and largest churches in America…and its been heartbreaking because of what has been said about many of the leaders on that list.
Here’s the deal…I know a lot of guys on that list…and they really are men who are in love with Jesus and really are more concerned with REPENTANCE than ATTENDANCE. They really do love the church and the Gospel and are trying to fulfill the Great Commission…but because they are seemingly experiencing some success people want to take shots at them.
(WHICH…is CRAZY!!! The church seems to be the only thing in the world that, if one is successful, people attack and demean it rather than celebrate it. AND…doesn’t Scripture clearly say in MULTIPLE places that we are to make known what God has done and is doing among the nations…and celebrate HIS work LOUDLY!!! “Christians” don’t celebrate with others well…but unfortunately we do “mourn” pretty good with others!)
If the church can’t celebrate…who can? I think we live in a sad day when church leaders will show more excitement over a sports team winning an eternally insignificant game than a church that is seeing more and more people come to know Christ!
Leaders—we can’t assume to know the whole story if we don’t actually know the whole story!
I’ve got to be honest here…the complete ignorance of the statement, “well, if people are coming to that church and it is growing then they must not be preaching the truth” has always blown me away because, well, because of the BOOK OF ACTS!
The disciples preached the “truth,” proclaimed Jesus…without fear or without shame…and THOUSANDS of lives were changed! (And, in contrast…the religious system of the day happened to be the ones not seeing the results, thus launching them into jealousy!) Just because a church is growing doesn’t mean they aren’t preaching the truth…it might actually mean they are preaching more truth than you!
Leaders…we can’t pretend to know everything about a church or ministry leader because of a five minute YouTube clip…or ONE blog article…or because someone who knew someone who was “there” told us what happened.
Let’s just make the committment to KNOW what we’re talking about before we talk about it…and let’s not assume to know someone if we don’t actually know them!