So You Think You Can Lead A Church Huh?

i may tick some people off with this post but that's life...

As a guy who has worked with churches over the past few years, i can safely say i don't think i'll ever see a day when seemingly normal people ever cease making bone-headed decisions or saying completely unintelligent, foolish things! These same people (for the most part, not always but almost) typically blame the ministers, pastors and/or church leaders for all the problems in their lives or in the lives of others.

i simply don't get it.

i am especially intrigued by people who seemingly make it a habit to inform the pastor or minister of what they (the pastor) should "really be doing if they really cared about people..."

Truth be known the authority that comes to pastors and ministers does not find it's origins in other people (which is a theological discussion for another day) but for some reason there seem to have been a decent number of people i have come into contact with over the last 20 years who have managed to convince themselves that they truly know how to do everything in the life of a local church better, more effectively, with more compassion and with superior results than anyone in the leadership of that same church! (i know that was a very long sentence... but hey that's how i roll...)

Can i just say something in response to that kind of "thinking"?

Get a life!

Most people who fall into the "let-me-tell-you-how-to-do-your-job-better-Pastor...." camp, have no clue what they are talking about! Not only that, they are arrogant, wounded, bitter people. They are people who need to be on a counselors couch (or at least in a counselors chair) figuring out why they take pleasure in pounding on the spiritual leaders of their church. Instead these people seemingly go from church to church wreaking havoc and leaving in their wake a trail of dazed and hurt church leaders who while filled with hurt, wonder after such an encounter... maybe i should leave church work and go "fill in the blank"!

i think i am past the point of patience for people who regularly do this sort of thing. There are few things like having a parent sit across the room from you, point their finger at you and ask you why you don't do more to to keep their kid out of trouble or from becoming pregnant or from getting someone else pregnant or get them to come back to church, blah, blah, blah.
Then there is the person who asks why you haven't done more to help this or that particular family with this or that issue when in fact, the person making the accusation often is not even fully informed on exactly what the situation is! Give me a break!

Now i understand that there are certainly those churches that can be considered abusive, but the number of whack job church leaders is not as significant as it maybe presented in our pop culture. Most of them are like me, we just want to make a difference but if every time we turn around people publicly second-guess, undermine and question why we do what we do it's no wonder that the number of ministers leaving their churches' pulpits all across our nation is considered by some to be of epidemic proportions.

Anyway, i hope i do tick some people off about this issue then maybe we can settle it once and for all.... or at least until the next time something else comes up.