Everyone's a critic with big long fingers that point out flaws with the greatest of ease. I appreciate these people sometimes. They are the ones that open my eyes and heart. They show me where I can improve and close the gap between where I am and where I want to be. I think churches need to invite criticism to some extent, but where is the line?
It always seems to me that so many critics have no desire to get their hands dirty and make any changes themselves. At work or at church or at home, it is so easy to say there is something that is less than perfect, but if you aren't willing to sacrifice time to help make it perfect or to teach me how I can make it more perfect, then don't get mad if your criticism is ignored. If you talk to me about something someone else is doing in a less than perfect way, don't be surprised if it falls on deaf ears. The truth is that I don't want to hear it. That is a slippery slope into a mud pit of gossip and misinformation. The reality of things is often that things aren't perfect because there aren't enough hands to craft a perfect product or gossip has undercut the foundation of trust required to make a perfect product. It is my opinion that if you aren't willing to be constructive if even in the providing ideas and alternatives to the status quo, then your criticism isn't helpful. It is only a chisel nicking away at what apparently is already a shaky foundation.
This is why I'm sick of reading editorials in newspapers and why I don't subscribe to half the number of blogs I used to. My challenge is how does church leadership inspire a system or gracefully inform people that criticism is always welcome so long as it is intended to be constructive and aimed at improvement rather than undermining and focused on creating division?
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In the first case, when the ruling group determines what is "good," the exalted, proud states of the soul are experienced as conferring distinction and determining the order of rank.
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1 comment:
I think about that sometimes. There are times when I might notice something but before I tell someone, I think, "Am I willing to change this?" I remember a story I read in a book about pastors. A pastor was asking his church to do some sort of community service project. He kept talking about it, but no one was doing it. He was getting frustrated so one day he brought the issue up at the church's elder meeting. After he brought it up the room was quiet until one guy asked, "So, what service project have you done?" He hadn't done any. That story has stuck with me ever since then. It is the idea of never asking someone to do something that I'm not willing to do myself. The same can go with things we see in church.
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