Here’s a post for my fellow pastors/church workers. At some point, you will be judged unfairly. Probably at many points. People – the very people you are there to serve – will treat you with disrespect. They will be rude. They will accuse. They will insinuate. They will misjudge and misunderstand. Deal with it. If you let it affect you, and you make “victim” your identity, then the you have allowed that criticism to do permanent damage to you. Notice that I didn’t say “they” did it to you. You did it to you.
Remember, your job is to pastor people. To serve. To lead. To provide hope. Your job is not to be universally liked. I always resonated with the description of the church as a hospital for sinners. People are going to come to you broken, and some will lash out, just like injured people sometimes lash out at the doctors or emergency workers who are trying to help them. Most of the time, they are not lashing out because they hate you. They are lashing out because they are hurt and scared, with their lives spinning out of control. Take the hits [within reason] and do your best to help them to become whole – even those who don’t deserve it [which is actually every one of us]. #creativeworshipideas
creativeworshipideas 