The people in my congregation are making ministry hard! What do I do?

Q. "I’ve been in the ministry at this church for three years. These people can be some of the most petty people on the face of the earth. They get on the phone and gossip. They lie about each other. They criticize me and my wife, and my preaching.

I spend most of my time untying the knots that they create during the week. Yes, it’s affecting my ministry. I have to, from the pulpit, correct the things that some of them are doing throughout the week. If I don’t, I feel like the church will just fall apart. I don’t like this, but that’s the way it is." 

A. These are some of the little foxes that destroy the vineyard. But, on the other hand, little things won't bog you down if you're a leader. A leader doesn't have time for pettiness. You're too busy doing what you have to do and being what God has called you to be to get bogged down in little things that don't really matter. A leader wouldn't want to spend his or her last day on earth being frustrated over small little details. 

So, what do you do? A leader spends time on people, pouring into them, building them up. Having patience with people - a leader has patience with people, a leader has to love people - even when they're unlovable - you have to love them. A leader doesn't argue with people. A leader keeps them positive, finds points of agreement and if at all possible lives at peace with all people. 

A lot of the people we work with haven't learned how to be lovable yet. One of the greatest pleasures of a leader is to be with a person as they get time with the Lord, time in the Word, as they begin to respond to the love that they are receiving from the Lord and His people.  

Like God gave Jacob a plan for increasing his flock, He will give you one. For me, it was this: When the sheep come to water, you hold up the image of what you want reproduced in them. You hold up no image, give no time to what you don’t want reproduced. During the course of the next two years, if you do this, you will find that what you have spoken, demonstrated and preached will be reproduced in the people.

Copyright Steven L. Davis  www.SteveDavis.org