Criticism and Church Leadership

Criticism—that constant companion of every pastor and church leader’s life—is often exactly what you need and comes with the job.

One of the most significant goals of my mentoring of pastors and other church leaders is to help them build a new relationship with criticism. Your response to criticism deeply affects your influence. 

This is especially true of pastors and church leaders because the criticism is unrelenting and often unfair from your perspective. Critical remarks before or after church wind you up, landing you in a bad place emotionally and spiritually. Negative comments in a staff or elder meeting often trigger defense mechanisms that leave you blind to your faults, flaws, and weaknesses.

You simply cannot yield to the temptation to respond poorly to criticism. Easy to say, but hard to live for any of us. Whether you realize it or not, you need to build a better relationship with criticism.