What Criticisms Do YOU Get?

I don't know anyone that enjoys being criticized.  But, if we serve in any sort of public leadership role, we will be criticized and we need to understand that is part of it.  I have laughed at the variety of things I have been criticized about.....some I did not laugh at the time.

"You promote the ministry more than you do Jesus." 

I must admit I never quite understood that one or knew what it was about.

"You have forsaken biblical preaching." That was after a conference where I was chairman of the planning committee and we had leaders talking about how to do college ministry better...not just a series of famous preachers.

"You are too conservative."  "You are too liberal."  Those were in the same week.

"You are not evangelistic enough."  I might plead semi-guilty to that one in that one of the callings of my life has been reaching college students who came to Christ as a child and have since walked away from it.  So, evangelism has not been my sole focus by any means.

"Too many students go to the church you go to."  That is probably my favorite!  I went out of my way to not invite students to my church in trying to be fair to the multiple churches reaching out to students on our campus.  And, I was trying to help each church.  But, I have to admit I liked the fact that my example mattered.  I kind of thought that was a good thing.  

So, here is the thing.  Again, criticism goes with any public leadership role.  It just does.  

1.  You Need to HEAR it.

Not all criticism is automatically unfair.  So, we need to listen for areas we need to improve.  And, sometimes we have just goofed.  Valid criticism is helpful when we can get past the sting.

2.  You need to NOT DWELL ON IT. .

It can paralyze you.  Listen, evaluate and then decide where to go from there.  If it is valid, make some adjustments, if not, don't waste energy on it.

3.  Always consider the SOURCE.

WHO the criticism comes from matters a great deal.  Some people speak out of knowledge.  Some speak out of jealousy. Some people speak out of ignorance and some speak out of love.  The MOTIVE of the speaker is key.  Criticism from my wife gets careful attention!  And, criticism from people who I know share the same calling and are teammates gets high attention.

4.  Some criticism comes as a result of a lack of communication on our part.

So, what areas do we need to be communicating better?  Some people genuinely care and just do not have all the information they need.

5.  Some criticism is about lack of balance.

A College Minister has more jobs than he or she can do.  There are more areas that are important and getting the right balance is tough and that is where feedback is helpful.

6.  Don't CONFUSE feedback with criticism.

None of us have ever done anything perfectly.  People who care will give feedback.

 AND, NO CRITICISM can mean nobody knows you are there or worse, don't care.  There can be a reason to celebrate criticism!!

PS:  ANONYMOUS LETTERS HAVE NO VALUE    . They are just meant to hurt! Trust me; I have gotten two or three.

Arliss Dickerson's new book, ALMOST EVERYTHING ABOUT COLLEGE MINISTRY, is available at amazon.com