October 4, 2024 • 20 mins
Have you ever felt criticism while serving in ministry? Welcome to the club! In today's Church Tips Podcast Pastor Nichole Schreiber and Jonathan Hardy do a deep dive into how to deal with criticism in the church. You want everyone to love everything you do as a pastor, but that never happens. As a lead pastor for the last 7 years, Pastor Nichole provides great perspective on navigating critics and moving the church forward. She challenges us to encourage everyone, even the critics!
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Unknown (00:00):
Music.
Jonathan Hardy (00:06):
Hey friends, I want to welcome you to the
Church Tips Podcast today. I'mJonathan Hardy, your host, here
with Nicole Schreiber, leadpastor of Erie First Assembly.
We’re in for a great treattoday. If you've ever faced
criticism in ministry, you'lldefinitely want to listen to
this episode because we’rediving into the nitty-gritty of
(00:27):
handling criticism in ministry.
So, Nicole, why don’t you startby telling us a little about
yourself?
Nichole Schreiber (00:33):
Thank you so much for having me. I'm really
privileged and excited to behere today to share some
insights that leaders can reallybenefit from. As you mentioned,
my name is Nicole Schreiber, andI've been the lead pastor at
Erie First Assembly of God forabout seven years. It’s been the
privilege of my life to servethis church, although it’s also
(00:54):
perhaps the most challengingassignment the Lord has given me
so far. But it's definitelyexciting, and I’m a huge
proponent of Leaders.Church. Ilove the resources they offer,
so it’s encouraging to be ableto give back a little of what
God has taught me.
Jonathan Hardy (01:12):
Awesome. We appreciate you joining us today.
To kick off our time together,let's start with a fun question:
have you ever faced criticism inministry?
Nichole Schreiber (01:22):
Oh, maybe once or twice! How about you,
Jonathan? Ever dealt withcriticism?
Jonathan Hardy (01:25):
Oh, never! [laughs] .
Nichole Schreiber (01:29):
You know, it’s funny. Early on as a
leader, I think many of us saywe want feedback, right? We ask
for it because it’s necessaryfor growth and learning. But
when we ask for feedback, whatwe often hope for is, “Wow, that
was amazing!” or “We loved thatevent!” More often, though, the
(01:56):
feedback we get is from peoplesharing what they didn’t like or
a perspective that differs fromours. I’ve realized as leaders,
criticism is just part of theterritory. In fact, if you don’t
have critics, you might notreally be leading! Often, the
(02:22):
more criticism you face, themore likely it is that you’re
doing somethingmeaningful—you're moving the
needle for the kingdom of God.
So, if you’re listening todayand can relate to dealing with
criticism, take it asencouragement that you’re on the
right track.
Jonathan Hardy (02:38):
That’s a great point. The more resistance you
encounter, it can actually be agood sign, even though it
doesn’t feel good. We’d all loveit if there were more
encouragers and fewer critics,but it seems like we mostly hear
from people when they havesomething negative to say.
Nichole Schreiber (03:01):
Exactly.
There are two things that haveramped up criticism in recent
years. First, accessibility. Asleaders, we need to be
(03:25):
accessible, which is why we’reon platforms like Facebook,
Instagram, and Twitter. But thisalso exposes us to people’s
opinions and criticism—throughemails, texts, and social media
comments. Second, we live in aculture where people are quick
(03:48):
to criticize everything, notjust leaders or the church. On
top of that, COVID-19 madethings even more difficult. As
leaders, we had to make toughdecisions where there was no
perfect option, and no matterwhat we chose, some group would
criticize it.
Jonathan Hardy (04:09):
Boy, yeah. And I might even expand on that,
especially for our U.S.
listeners. It wasn’t just COVID;there was also a lot of social
(04:46):
tension in the country, andpolitical tension was at levels
we probably haven’t seen in ourlifetime. I would say that
COVID, along with all thoseother factors, just amplified
everything. In fact, I talked toa pastor a couple of days ago,
and we were discussing some ofthe issues from 2020—like the
(05:11):
church shutdowns—and hecommented on how no matter what
decision he made, half thepeople disagreed. He’d choose
one thing, and half were upset;if he chose the opposite, the
other half were unhappy. I’msure you’ve heard that before,
and it’s not fun.
(05:35):
I also really like your pointabout communication channels.
It’s funny because, just thismorning, I was driving my son to
camp, and I was telling him how,back when I was a kid, cell
phones didn’t exist. He couldn’tbelieve it! But back in those
(06:01):
days, we didn’t have to worryabout all these communication
channels and the easy accesspeople now have to voice their
criticism. It was much morestreamlined. But now, everywhere
you turn, there’s an opportunityfor criticism. So, as leaders in
(06:26):
ministry, when that happens,what do we do?
Nichole Schreiber (06:32):
Yeah, so I think, first for me, expecting
criticism to be part of thejourney was an important piece
of it. Because if I was startingto determine how well I was
doing as a leader based on howmuch criticism I was
experiencing, that was the wrongmeasure to use. So, the first
(06:52):
thing, just like we talked aboutearlier, is we have to expect
criticism to be part of thejourney. However, one of the
things we need to be cautiousand careful about is ensuring
that the criticism we’rereceiving doesn’t leak into our
own hearts or our leadershipand, subsequently, the culture
(07:14):
of the ministry in which weserve. Because, a lot of times,
if we have this critical spiritposed against us, we can
perpetuate the problem if werespond to a critical spirit
with a critical spirit. Doesthat make sense?
So, it’s really important for usto protect our hearts from
(07:34):
becoming defensive—of our ownactions or attitudes—and to not
meet a critical voice withanother critical voice. We don’t
want to launch a critical attackon someone else because, when
we’re criticized a lot, it’s ourgut reaction to do the same
thing. But that plants the seedsof criticism in the soil of your
ministry or culture, and that’snot what you want to grow in a
(07:58):
ministry. So, I know that’s verydifficult. I think for those
listening today, this is not aneasy thing to do. It takes a lot
of character and integrity, butI would just warn everyone, in
love, that you can’t let thosethings settle into your heart
because they will grow a cropthat you don’t want in your
(08:19):
church, organization, orwhatever you lead. That’s not
what you want to perpetuate. Youknow what I mean?
Jonathan Hardy (08:25):
Right, exactly.
Yeah, no, I think that’s reallyimportant. And I think it’s
important to evaluate and askyourself, when you face
criticism, why does it botheryou? As a leader who is
fulfilling what you feel calledto do, obviously, there needs to
(08:47):
be conviction behind yourdecisions and direction. And
sometimes it can bother us.
There might be something behindthis surface-level issue. I
mean, on the surface, it mightfeel like, “Oh, people don’t
like what I’m doing,” and itbothers you, but ask yourself
(09:08):
why. Because if you reallybelieve this is what you’re
supposed to do, then, in theory,these outside voices shouldn’t
matter as much, since you have astrong conviction toward the
decisions, direction, orwhatever you’re pursuing.
Anyway, that’s just somethingthat came to mind as you were
talking.
Nichole Schreiber (09:27):
That’s so good. I think, as followers of
Jesus and carriers of Hismessage, we have to extend the
same grace and love towardothers that God has extended to
us. Just to be vulnerable for asecond here, I’ve had many times
(09:50):
where I’ve been grumbling orcomplaining or frustrated with
someone who has given me a hardtime about a decision I made, or
they were frustrated with me.
The Lord has reminded me of allthe times He poured out His
grace on me and how I’ve neededa Savior. So, staying in that
humble position before the Lordis important. Yes, it’s not
(10:13):
right or good for someone elseto be so critical, but we need
to remember that same grace thatthe Lord has for us, we need to
have for others. Keeping that inmind is really important for us
as believers. I know I’mpreaching to the choir here, as
we talk to incredible leadersall across the world, but it’s
(10:33):
important to remember thatexperiencing grace motivates us
to extend grace. So, make sureyou put yourself in a position
to experience God’s grace so youcan extend it to others.
I think another thing, and youkind of touched on this, is that
we can never know anotherperson’s motives with certainty.
If you imagine your critic rightnow—whoever that is in your mind
(10:57):
who has most recently emailed ortexted you—we can’t fully
understand their motives. When Icame to this church seven years
ago, there were people whodidn’t trust leadership because
(11:20):
of past decisions. I remember Iwanted to buy a Keurig, a $35
Keurig from Walmart for thechurch office, and I had a board
member who was so offended andfrustrated. He just couldn’t
believe we needed a $35 Keurig,thinking I was wasting church
money. I was so hurt andoffended, thinking, “This is
(11:44):
crazy! It’s a $35 Keurig. What’sthe problem?” But the truth was,
his heart had been so hurt byleadership in the past, and he
didn’t trust anything. Hiscriticism wasn’t really about
the Keurig; it was about pastleadership. Only God knows every
(12:12):
person’s heart. He knows thestory, the experiences, and the
perspectives of each person. Weonly see the tip of the
iceberg—the small bit of actionsor outward expressions of these
motives. Sometimes we candiscern things correctly, but
sometimes we can’t. We makejudgments easily from our own
(12:33):
point of view, but God reallysees the heart. Loving the
people we serve practicallymeans giving them the benefit of
the doubt. Maybe there’ssomething in their hearts that’s
making them say these things.
Trust that there’s more to thestory God is writing, and let
God defend us as leaders. Godcan handle that. You don’t have
(12:54):
to feel like you always need todefend yourself or justify
things. You can walk confidentlyin what God is asking you to do,
knowing that if people don’tlike it, God will defend you and
work out what’s going on intheir hearts.
Jonathan Hardy (13:10):
Mm-hmm, yeah.
No, that’s good. I’ll throw abit of a curveball at you here,
(13:31):
but how do you respond whenmaybe their criticism has a bit
of truth to it? How do youhandle that?
Nichole Schreiber (13:36):
That’s a great question because the truth
is, we all try our best, but wedon’t always get it perfect
every time. I’ve alwaysheard—and I think my mom said
this growing up—that behindevery criticism is a seed of
truth. In some ways, it’s reallygood to stay humble as a leader
(13:58):
and to always evaluate. I have acouple of very trusted voices in
my life. It’s a short list, butthese are people I can go to and
say, “Hey, this person is sayingthat I act like I don’t care
about children, or they’resaying I was rude. Is that true?
(14:19):
Do you see that in my life? Isthat something I need to work
on?” And then I trust thosepeople to help me evaluate
myself. I also heard this once,and I really loved it: don’t
take criticism from people youwouldn’t take advice from. I
think that’s important to learn.
Yes, sometimes there are thingswe need to grow through, and we
(14:44):
should stay humble, but there’sa balance. God sends people to
humble us, but we don’t get topick who those people are.
Sometimes they aren’t the oneswe’d welcome, but God sends them
anyway. At the same time, don’ttake everything everyone says to
heart. You’ll get discouragedquickly if you do that. Does
(15:04):
that answer your question?
Jonathan Hardy (15:08):
Yep, absolutely.
And as you’re saying that, Iknow there have been instances
where you might receiveanonymous criticism. And at that
point, whether it’s an anonymousemail or letter, I mean, those
things just need to be chucked,right? No need to keep that
around.
Nichole Schreiber (15:28):
Yeah, of course.
Jonathan Hardy (15:30):
And of course, prayer is always a great next
step.
Nichole Schreiber (15:37):
Yes, exactly.
When there are critics in mylife, I’ve really committed to
praying for them instead ofcomplaining about them. Rather
than saying, “Why is everyonecriticizing me?” or “These
(16:01):
people are so hard to lead,” Ithink of Moses in the
wilderness, where all they didwas grumble for years and years.
But when we’re feelingcriticized or bothered by
others, praying for them shouldbe our response. If we meet
(16:21):
negativity with more negativity,it just compounds the problem
and worsens the attitude orculture. Nothing takes the joy
out of ministry faster thanbeing in a rut of complaining
all the time. Admittedly,ministry isn’t always joyful,
(16:46):
but every person God puts in ourministry is a gift from Him. So,
I tell my team here at thechurch, “I want our attitude to
be, ‘Every day, we get to dothis.’” There are many people
(17:08):
who would love to be infull-time ministry but can’t for
various reasons. Or they don’thave a place to serve. But we
get to do this for this season,and until God puts us in another
position, we should have thatheart and attitude of gratitude,
no matter how difficult it canbe at times.
Jonathan Hardy (17:31):
No, that’s awesome. Any final thoughts or
takeaways from your experience?
Nichole Schreiber (17:37):
Yes. One of the strongest takeaways I’d like
to share is that one of the bestways to guard against having a
critical spirit is tointentionally be an encourager.
Hebrews 3 (17:53):
13 says, “Encourage one another daily, as long as it
is called ‘Today,’ so that noneof you may be hardened by sin’s
deceitfulness.” Humanity needsencouragement, right? Our people
need it. I’ve found thatsometimes the people who are the
most critical need the mostencouragement. As leaders, God
(18:17):
calls us to encourage oneanother constantly. My prayer is
that as leaders, we may bevictims of criticism, but let’s
make it our goal to be vesselsof encouragement. Let’s never be
(18:44):
the source of criticism. One ofthe saddest things in ministry
is watching leaders criticizeeach other. With all the
spiritual warfare and naturalwarfare we deal with, I want to
be a leader who encourages andnever criticizes those working
beside me or near me. We need tobuild each other up until Jesus
(19:09):
comes again, which is really ourultimate goal.
Jonathan Hardy (19:11):
Yeah, well, that’s awesome, and so true. For
those of you listening who mightbe facing something right now, I
pray this conversation is anencouragement to you. Nicole, I
appreciate everything you’veshared from your experience. All
of us face criticism from timeto time, but it’s good to hear
some fresh perspective on how torespond in those moments. Thank
(19:35):
you so much for joining ustoday.
Nichole Schreiber (19:37):
Thank you so much.
Jonathan Hardy (19:38):
And friends, I do want to mention that we have
a video series inside theLeaders.Church membership. So,
if you’re a member ofLeaders.Church, check out a
four-part video series onhandling critics in ministry.
It’s another great resource ifthis is something you’d like to
dive a little deeper into. We’llput a link in the show notes as
(19:59):
well. Thank you so much forbeing with us on the Church Tips
Podcast today. We look forwardto seeing you next time. Take
care!Hey, Jonathan here real quick
before you go. Everything inyour ministry rises and falls on
your leadership. So, investingin your leadership is essential
to staying healthy and growingthe ministry. That’s why I want
to invite you to join us insidethe Leaders.Church membership.
This online streaming servicefor pastors gives you access to
(20:21):
more than 300 videos, plustraining material to level up
your leadership and improve yourministry skills. If you’d like
to do that, go toleaders.church/boost. Again,
that’s leaders.church/boost.
Thanks again for joining us onthe Church Tips Podcast. We look
forward to seeing you next time.
Music.
Jonathan Hardy (00:06):
Hey friends, I want to welcome you to the
Church Tips Podcast today. I'mJonathan Hardy, your host, here
with Nicole Schreiber, leadpastor of Erie First Assembly.
We’re in for a great treattoday. If you've ever faced
criticism in ministry, you'lldefinitely want to listen to
this episode because we’rediving into the nitty-gritty of
(00:27):
handling criticism in ministry.
So, Nicole, why don’t you startby telling us a little about
yourself?
Nichole Schreiber (00:33):
Thank you so much for having me. I'm really
privileged and excited to behere today to share some
insights that leaders can reallybenefit from. As you mentioned,
my name is Nicole Schreiber, andI've been the lead pastor at
Erie First Assembly of God forabout seven years. It’s been the
privilege of my life to servethis church, although it’s also
(00:54):
perhaps the most challengingassignment the Lord has given me
so far. But it's definitelyexciting, and I’m a huge
proponent of Leaders.Church. Ilove the resources they offer,
so it’s encouraging to be ableto give back a little of what
God has taught me.
Jonathan Hardy (01:12):
Awesome. We appreciate you joining us today.
To kick off our time together,let's start with a fun question:
have you ever faced criticism inministry?
Nichole Schreiber (01:22):
Oh, maybe once or twice! How about you,
Jonathan? Ever dealt withcriticism?
Jonathan Hardy (01:25):
Oh, never! [laughs] .
Nichole Schreiber (01:29):
You know, it’s funny. Early on as a
leader, I think many of us saywe want feedback, right? We ask
for it because it’s necessaryfor growth and learning. But
when we ask for feedback, whatwe often hope for is, “Wow, that
was amazing!” or “We loved thatevent!” More often, though, the
(01:56):
feedback we get is from peoplesharing what they didn’t like or
a perspective that differs fromours. I’ve realized as leaders,
criticism is just part of theterritory. In fact, if you don’t
have critics, you might notreally be leading! Often, the
(02:22):
more criticism you face, themore likely it is that you’re
doing somethingmeaningful—you're moving the
needle for the kingdom of God.
So, if you’re listening todayand can relate to dealing with
criticism, take it asencouragement that you’re on the
right track.
Jonathan Hardy (02:38):
That’s a great point. The more resistance you
encounter, it can actually be agood sign, even though it
doesn’t feel good. We’d all loveit if there were more
encouragers and fewer critics,but it seems like we mostly hear
from people when they havesomething negative to say.
Nichole Schreiber (03:01):
Exactly.
There are two things that haveramped up criticism in recent
years. First, accessibility. Asleaders, we need to be
(03:25):
accessible, which is why we’reon platforms like Facebook,
Instagram, and Twitter. But thisalso exposes us to people’s
opinions and criticism—throughemails, texts, and social media
comments. Second, we live in aculture where people are quick
(03:48):
to criticize everything, notjust leaders or the church. On
top of that, COVID-19 madethings even more difficult. As
leaders, we had to make toughdecisions where there was no
perfect option, and no matterwhat we chose, some group would
criticize it.
Jonathan Hardy (04:09):
Boy, yeah. And I might even expand on that,
especially for our U.S.
listeners. It wasn’t just COVID;there was also a lot of social
(04:46):
tension in the country, andpolitical tension was at levels
we probably haven’t seen in ourlifetime. I would say that
COVID, along with all thoseother factors, just amplified
everything. In fact, I talked toa pastor a couple of days ago,
and we were discussing some ofthe issues from 2020—like the
(05:11):
church shutdowns—and hecommented on how no matter what
decision he made, half thepeople disagreed. He’d choose
one thing, and half were upset;if he chose the opposite, the
other half were unhappy. I’msure you’ve heard that before,
and it’s not fun.
(05:35):
I also really like your pointabout communication channels.
It’s funny because, just thismorning, I was driving my son to
camp, and I was telling him how,back when I was a kid, cell
phones didn’t exist. He couldn’tbelieve it! But back in those
(06:01):
days, we didn’t have to worryabout all these communication
channels and the easy accesspeople now have to voice their
criticism. It was much morestreamlined. But now, everywhere
you turn, there’s an opportunityfor criticism. So, as leaders in
(06:26):
ministry, when that happens,what do we do?
Nichole Schreiber (06:32):
Yeah, so I think, first for me, expecting
criticism to be part of thejourney was an important piece
of it. Because if I was startingto determine how well I was
doing as a leader based on howmuch criticism I was
experiencing, that was the wrongmeasure to use. So, the first
(06:52):
thing, just like we talked aboutearlier, is we have to expect
criticism to be part of thejourney. However, one of the
things we need to be cautiousand careful about is ensuring
that the criticism we’rereceiving doesn’t leak into our
own hearts or our leadershipand, subsequently, the culture
(07:14):
of the ministry in which weserve. Because, a lot of times,
if we have this critical spiritposed against us, we can
perpetuate the problem if werespond to a critical spirit
with a critical spirit. Doesthat make sense?
So, it’s really important for usto protect our hearts from
(07:34):
becoming defensive—of our ownactions or attitudes—and to not
meet a critical voice withanother critical voice. We don’t
want to launch a critical attackon someone else because, when
we’re criticized a lot, it’s ourgut reaction to do the same
thing. But that plants the seedsof criticism in the soil of your
ministry or culture, and that’snot what you want to grow in a
(07:58):
ministry. So, I know that’s verydifficult. I think for those
listening today, this is not aneasy thing to do. It takes a lot
of character and integrity, butI would just warn everyone, in
love, that you can’t let thosethings settle into your heart
because they will grow a cropthat you don’t want in your
(08:19):
church, organization, orwhatever you lead. That’s not
what you want to perpetuate. Youknow what I mean?
Jonathan Hardy (08:25):
Right, exactly.
Yeah, no, I think that’s reallyimportant. And I think it’s
important to evaluate and askyourself, when you face
criticism, why does it botheryou? As a leader who is
fulfilling what you feel calledto do, obviously, there needs to
(08:47):
be conviction behind yourdecisions and direction. And
sometimes it can bother us.
There might be something behindthis surface-level issue. I
mean, on the surface, it mightfeel like, “Oh, people don’t
like what I’m doing,” and itbothers you, but ask yourself
(09:08):
why. Because if you reallybelieve this is what you’re
supposed to do, then, in theory,these outside voices shouldn’t
matter as much, since you have astrong conviction toward the
decisions, direction, orwhatever you’re pursuing.
Anyway, that’s just somethingthat came to mind as you were
talking.
Nichole Schreiber (09:27):
That’s so good. I think, as followers of
Jesus and carriers of Hismessage, we have to extend the
same grace and love towardothers that God has extended to
us. Just to be vulnerable for asecond here, I’ve had many times
(09:50):
where I’ve been grumbling orcomplaining or frustrated with
someone who has given me a hardtime about a decision I made, or
they were frustrated with me.
The Lord has reminded me of allthe times He poured out His
grace on me and how I’ve neededa Savior. So, staying in that
humble position before the Lordis important. Yes, it’s not
(10:13):
right or good for someone elseto be so critical, but we need
to remember that same grace thatthe Lord has for us, we need to
have for others. Keeping that inmind is really important for us
as believers. I know I’mpreaching to the choir here, as
we talk to incredible leadersall across the world, but it’s
(10:33):
important to remember thatexperiencing grace motivates us
to extend grace. So, make sureyou put yourself in a position
to experience God’s grace so youcan extend it to others.
I think another thing, and youkind of touched on this, is that
we can never know anotherperson’s motives with certainty.
If you imagine your critic rightnow—whoever that is in your mind
(10:57):
who has most recently emailed ortexted you—we can’t fully
understand their motives. When Icame to this church seven years
ago, there were people whodidn’t trust leadership because
(11:20):
of past decisions. I remember Iwanted to buy a Keurig, a $35
Keurig from Walmart for thechurch office, and I had a board
member who was so offended andfrustrated. He just couldn’t
believe we needed a $35 Keurig,thinking I was wasting church
money. I was so hurt andoffended, thinking, “This is
(11:44):
crazy! It’s a $35 Keurig. What’sthe problem?” But the truth was,
his heart had been so hurt byleadership in the past, and he
didn’t trust anything. Hiscriticism wasn’t really about
the Keurig; it was about pastleadership. Only God knows every
(12:12):
person’s heart. He knows thestory, the experiences, and the
perspectives of each person. Weonly see the tip of the
iceberg—the small bit of actionsor outward expressions of these
motives. Sometimes we candiscern things correctly, but
sometimes we can’t. We makejudgments easily from our own
(12:33):
point of view, but God reallysees the heart. Loving the
people we serve practicallymeans giving them the benefit of
the doubt. Maybe there’ssomething in their hearts that’s
making them say these things.
Trust that there’s more to thestory God is writing, and let
God defend us as leaders. Godcan handle that. You don’t have
(12:54):
to feel like you always need todefend yourself or justify
things. You can walk confidentlyin what God is asking you to do,
knowing that if people don’tlike it, God will defend you and
work out what’s going on intheir hearts.
Jonathan Hardy (13:10):
Mm-hmm, yeah.
No, that’s good. I’ll throw abit of a curveball at you here,
(13:31):
but how do you respond whenmaybe their criticism has a bit
of truth to it? How do youhandle that?
Nichole Schreiber (13:36):
That’s a great question because the truth
is, we all try our best, but wedon’t always get it perfect
every time. I’ve alwaysheard—and I think my mom said
this growing up—that behindevery criticism is a seed of
truth. In some ways, it’s reallygood to stay humble as a leader
(13:58):
and to always evaluate. I have acouple of very trusted voices in
my life. It’s a short list, butthese are people I can go to and
say, “Hey, this person is sayingthat I act like I don’t care
about children, or they’resaying I was rude. Is that true?
(14:19):
Do you see that in my life? Isthat something I need to work
on?” And then I trust thosepeople to help me evaluate
myself. I also heard this once,and I really loved it: don’t
take criticism from people youwouldn’t take advice from. I
think that’s important to learn.
Yes, sometimes there are thingswe need to grow through, and we
(14:44):
should stay humble, but there’sa balance. God sends people to
humble us, but we don’t get topick who those people are.
Sometimes they aren’t the oneswe’d welcome, but God sends them
anyway. At the same time, don’ttake everything everyone says to
heart. You’ll get discouragedquickly if you do that. Does
(15:04):
that answer your question?
Jonathan Hardy (15:08):
Yep, absolutely.
And as you’re saying that, Iknow there have been instances
where you might receiveanonymous criticism. And at that
point, whether it’s an anonymousemail or letter, I mean, those
things just need to be chucked,right? No need to keep that
around.
Nichole Schreiber (15:28):
Yeah, of course.
Jonathan Hardy (15:30):
And of course, prayer is always a great next
step.
Nichole Schreiber (15:37):
Yes, exactly.
When there are critics in mylife, I’ve really committed to
praying for them instead ofcomplaining about them. Rather
than saying, “Why is everyonecriticizing me?” or “These
(16:01):
people are so hard to lead,” Ithink of Moses in the
wilderness, where all they didwas grumble for years and years.
But when we’re feelingcriticized or bothered by
others, praying for them shouldbe our response. If we meet
(16:21):
negativity with more negativity,it just compounds the problem
and worsens the attitude orculture. Nothing takes the joy
out of ministry faster thanbeing in a rut of complaining
all the time. Admittedly,ministry isn’t always joyful,
(16:46):
but every person God puts in ourministry is a gift from Him. So,
I tell my team here at thechurch, “I want our attitude to
be, ‘Every day, we get to dothis.’” There are many people
(17:08):
who would love to be infull-time ministry but can’t for
various reasons. Or they don’thave a place to serve. But we
get to do this for this season,and until God puts us in another
position, we should have thatheart and attitude of gratitude,
no matter how difficult it canbe at times.
Jonathan Hardy (17:31):
No, that’s awesome. Any final thoughts or
takeaways from your experience?
Nichole Schreiber (17:37):
Yes. One of the strongest takeaways I’d like
to share is that one of the bestways to guard against having a
critical spirit is tointentionally be an encourager.
Hebrews 3 (17:53):
13 says, “Encourage one another daily, as long as it
is called ‘Today,’ so that noneof you may be hardened by sin’s
deceitfulness.” Humanity needsencouragement, right? Our people
need it. I’ve found thatsometimes the people who are the
most critical need the mostencouragement. As leaders, God
(18:17):
calls us to encourage oneanother constantly. My prayer is
that as leaders, we may bevictims of criticism, but let’s
make it our goal to be vesselsof encouragement. Let’s never be
(18:44):
the source of criticism. One ofthe saddest things in ministry
is watching leaders criticizeeach other. With all the
spiritual warfare and naturalwarfare we deal with, I want to
be a leader who encourages andnever criticizes those working
beside me or near me. We need tobuild each other up until Jesus
(19:09):
comes again, which is really ourultimate goal.
Jonathan Hardy (19:11):
Yeah, well, that’s awesome, and so true. For
those of you listening who mightbe facing something right now, I
pray this conversation is anencouragement to you. Nicole, I
appreciate everything you’veshared from your experience. All
of us face criticism from timeto time, but it’s good to hear
some fresh perspective on how torespond in those moments. Thank
(19:35):
you so much for joining ustoday.
Nichole Schreiber (19:37):
Thank you so much.
Jonathan Hardy (19:38):
And friends, I do want to mention that we have
a video series inside theLeaders.Church membership. So,
if you’re a member ofLeaders.Church, check out a
four-part video series onhandling critics in ministry.
It’s another great resource ifthis is something you’d like to
dive a little deeper into. We’llput a link in the show notes as
(19:59):
well. Thank you so much forbeing with us on the Church Tips
Podcast today. We look forwardto seeing you next time. Take
care!Hey, Jonathan here real quick
before you go. Everything inyour ministry rises and falls on
your leadership. So, investingin your leadership is essential
to staying healthy and growingthe ministry. That’s why I want
to invite you to join us insidethe Leaders.Church membership.
This online streaming servicefor pastors gives you access to
(20:21):
more than 300 videos, plustraining material to level up
your leadership and improve yourministry skills. If you’d like
to do that, go toleaders.church/boost. Again,
that’s leaders.church/boost.
Thanks again for joining us onthe Church Tips Podcast. We look
forward to seeing you next time.
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