Musings on Spiritual Matters

Everyone always has a suggestion for a preacher or elder.  Often these suggestions are some feedback on how you can do something better.  Sometimes these ideas are really helpful.  I remember some years ago, a dear friend named Gilbert Cooper told me to stop running up to the pulpit to preach.  See, I was young, and this seemed to give some energy to the lesson, in my mind.  I did this for a couple of years, but then one day Gilbert who was a dear friend and elder told me that I was too old for that.  It did not give me respect by running.  It seemed young, not for a minister who commanded respect.  I changed that day, and just imagine if I was still running to the pulpit today.  Everyone needs feedback, but not all feedback is good.  So how do you know the good stuff and the bad stuff.

1. People not Problems.  If the people who come to me are friends, I lesson more closely.  If the people have proved to truly love me, I better seriously listen to them.  Also, look at who is talking.  If it is respectable and long time members, who have stuck with a church for years, who seem stable, you better listen to them.  There are some people who always talk, and some people when they talk wisdom comes forth.  If a wisdom giver approaches you, listen.

2. Pray about It.  More than likely, when you hear feedback, you will be defensive.  So when you first hear it, you will not really hear it.   You need some quiet God time to process it.  Before you reject it, pray about it.  Often you will see if this is true or not.

3. If you are Right Always.  When you receive feedback, are you always right, and the person is wrong.  If this is the case, you are wrong, but I guess I really cannot tell you that, because of course you are right.  Probably, a good 50-50 of the times, you are either right or wrong.  If this gets out of balance, you are out of balance.

Feedback makes us better people, so be of the type of person that allows people to give you feedback.  Mostly, they are just trying to help you not run to a pulpit and look foolish.

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This entry was posted by Matthew on Wednesday, October 27th, 2010 at 4:18 pm and is filed under Church News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.