The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
We're all about helping create a healthy, positive, and spiritually positive environment for church staff members and leadership teams.
The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
Responding to Criticism and Opposition with Humility
Can you handle criticism like the Apostle Paul did, turning adversity into a growth opportunity? Join us on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast as we examine how Paul's remarkable resilience, grace, and humility can offer vital lessons for today's church leaders. In this episode, we explore 2 Corinthians 12 to uncover how Paul dealt with constant criticism and opposition, both from within the church and beyond, without succumbing to defensiveness. Discover how his "thorn in the flesh" became a conduit for relying on God's grace, allowing him to prioritize glorifying God over protecting his own ego.
We share practical advice to help church leaders manage criticism with wisdom and poise, emphasizing the importance of clear communication channels and developing a personal protocol to thoughtfully address feedback. By viewing criticism as an opportunity rather than a setback, leaders can foster growth and evolution in their roles. Inspired by Paul's example, we encourage our listeners to embrace challenges as pathways to becoming better leaders and servants within their communities. Tune in for a transformative discussion on turning adversity into strength with grace and humility.
Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.com
Be sure to subscribe to The Healthy Church Staff Podcast wherever you regularly listen to podcasts.
- - - - -
Is Your Church Hiring?
If your church is searching for a new staff member, reach out to Todd for a conversation on how he might be able to help.
Are You Looking for a New Ministry Role?
If you are open to a new church role in the next few months, add your free resume and profile at ChemistryStaffing.com.
Welcome back to the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. If this is your first time here, then welcome. We are in the middle. You've joined us in the middle of our series Actually, we're getting ready to close it up today.
Speaker 1:Tomorrow and Friday we're going to be talking about the Apostle Paul and just what we can learn from Scripture about Paul, his character, how he ministered and how, even though that happened a couple thousand years ago, it can really help us in our ministry today. Ministry isn't always smooth sailing and we've talked so far about his transformation and his boldness and his perseverance and his commitment to the gospel. And Paul's life was not an easy one, and today we're exploring I think this is relevant for today, right how Paul handled criticism and opposition, even betrayal, and how he handled it with grace and humility, as a vital lesson for church leaders. And, as Solomon said, there's nothing in Ecclesiastes, there's nothing new under the sun, and some of the things that Paul experienced we experience today, so let's talk about that. Paul's ministry was marked by really constant opposition. He faced criticism from within the church Do you ever get that? Persecution from religious leaders, even betrayal from those who he considered his closest companions. Yet through it all, he demonstrated just a remarkable sense of grace and humility, and one of the passages of scripture I think that kind of bears this out is found in 2 Corinthians 12.
Speaker 1:In verses 7 through 10, paul here describes and we've all heard this and probably preached on it a lot he describes his thorn in the flesh. It's a persistent affliction that caused him a good great deal amount of pain and in 2 Corinthians Paul pleads with God to remove it. But God's response was my grace is sufficient, for my power is made perfect in weakness. And Paul learned to embrace this weakness. God never took that thorn. As far as we know, he never took that thorn in Paul's flesh away. But he allowed Paul to rely on his grace to sustain him through his many trials. And Paul's attitude of humility and dependence on God really allowed him to respond to criticism and opposition with grace and probably in a way that he wouldn't have if he didn't have that thorn in the flesh. It helped him to respond gracefully rather than defensively or with retaliation. He understood that his ultimate goal was to glorify God and not to defend his own ego or his reputation. And if you watch about Paul, he did have an ego and he did have a reputation. So he needed every bit of God's grace here, encouragement and advice for today. As far as Paul's example, I think it really does offer us valuable guidance as we lead in our church and we face criticism and opposition.
Speaker 1:So here's some points I want to go over with you quickly today. First is establish some clear communication channels, and here's what I mean by this. Don't let feedback fester in the shadows. Create clear and accessible channels for people to express their concerns or suggestions, even their criticisms it's really important and then develop a criticism response protocol. Now, that's a fancy. That's a fancy title for that criticism response protocol, but here's what I mean is, instead of reacting impulsively, which many times we just automatically do we just we get criticism and we just react immediately.
Speaker 1:Instead of doing that, create a personal protocol for how you're going to handle that criticism. You're going to get criticism. You just don't know. We're just surprised at where it comes from and when it comes right. Sometimes it comes out of the blue. So this criticism response protocol might include taking 24 hours to just process before you do anything. Take 24 hours before you respond, before you seek counsel, before you do anything.
Speaker 1:Journal your thoughts, manage your emotions before engaging in any kind of conversation and then and this is well this is much easier said than done. I totally realize it. But when you can because I think Paul did this as well turn your criticism into a growth opportunity, view criticism as a chance to learn and grow. If you're just ticked off, you're not going to learn and grow. But ask yourself is there any truth to this? Can I use this feedback to become a better leader? Now?
Speaker 1:It was a little harder for people to write letters back then, although Paul did it to the churches. But it's not like they just wrote letters and put them in the mail or stuck them in the offering plate like disgruntled church members do. But can you imagine with me for a minute that Paul's teaching in the synagogue and I don't know, they're passing their offering plate, even though churches don't do that much anymore since COVID but somebody leaves a scathing letter and they put it in the offering plate. It's filled with name calling and accusations and criticizing criticisms and instead of firing back a heated response, I can almost picture Paul taking a deep breath and praying for wisdom and crafting a thoughtful, grace-filled reply. It's a reminder that we can choose to respond to negativity with grace even when it's difficult, and we can only do that when we're not impulsive. So here's the bottom line and the call to action for today Ministry. I'm not telling you anything, you don't know. It's often accompanied by criticism and opposition. But if you're cultivating a sense of humility and practicing forgiveness and responding with grace, we can navigate these challenges in a way that honors God and reflects the character of Christ.
Speaker 1:Sometimes I think Paul kind of gets a bad rap as being a hothead in Scripture. But Paul, if you look deeper, paul really has a heart for people and he does. Really has a heart for people and he does. He went through things that you and I will never, ever go through Criticism, opposition, persecution and for the most part Paul handled those things really well.
Speaker 1:So this week, as much as you can take a proactive step towards handling criticism with grace, establish that clear communication channel, that protocol criticism response protocol that you can use to really help you work through criticism, because you know it's coming. If you don't have it right now, you're going to have it, maybe even by the end of the day. Who knows? It comes out of nowhere sometimes. I hope this is helpful for you. We've got two more episodes on the Healthy Church Podcast about Paul and things that we're learning from him and his ministry, and I hope this is helpful to you. It's been really helpful to me as we've gone through it, so I hope you'll join us again tomorrow right here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. I'm Rose Howe.
