Leadership And Criticism!

Stephen Neill said, “Criticism is the manure in which God’s servants grow best.” But the truth is, many of God’s servants don’t like the smell of manure and get out of it fairly quickly. Almost thirty years ago, a survey showed that 20 percent of any given seminary graduating class will quit the ministry and find some other career within five years of entering the ministry. The number one reason these pastors bailed out was not low pay, moral problems, or health issues. The number one reason they left the ministry was the pressure of criticism.

Whenever the New Testament refers to the elders of a particular local church, it always uses the plural. For example, Acts 14:23 reports concerning the churches that Paul and Barnabas had planted, “When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” Later (Acts 20:17), Luke writes, “From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church.” Paul wrote to Titus (1:5), “For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you.” Since there was just one church per city, there were multiple elders in each church.

A plurality of elders over a single local church is God’s way of protecting the church against the abuses of authority that may easily happen if a single man runs the church. The elders must submit to the Lord and be accountable to one another and to the church. There is only one New Testament example of a one-man leader over a local church and it isn’t pretty. The apostle John wrote (3 John 9-10):

I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church.

The elders are not to run the church as they see fit. Rather, they are to submit every action and decision to the headship of Jesus Christ, seeking faithfully to apply God’s Word. As Ray Stedman said, “The task of the elders is not to run the church themselves, but to determine how the Lord in their midst wishes to run his church.”

So while criticism may be the manure in which God’s servants grow best, before you try to help a church leader grow by piling on the manure, check yourself! Have you put yourself properly under the elders’ God-given authority? Are you showing proper respect and honor to the elder you’re critical of? Are your true motives for challenging the leader acceptable before God? Are you in submission to the truth from God’s Word that the elder is teaching? While sometimes a leader may need some fertilizing, make sure that you do it properly. And never challenge the Lord Jesus Christ or His commandments. He is the only Lord of His church!

Source: Bible.org