Criticism, offered in love and received with humility, provides ministers with tremendous opportunities to grow. It gives us the opportunity to become more effective for the advance of Christ’s kingdom. And it reminds us that we really are as bad as the Bible says we are. So let us listen carefully, weigh our responses thoughtfully, and be grateful for wise critics.

With due awareness of the liabilities, I would like to venture on to the delicate ice of how pastors should receive – and congregants give – criticism. The reason I feel emboldened to do so is that I have had, in my years as a minister, some very good critics and I pray that others would benefit from their sage advice. So, over the next couple of days, I will be posting some on this topic.

To the first thing first: how should pastors receive criticism? The blog posts and articles on this subject are legion, for they are many – and, very often, helpful. However, one can get the impression that pastors, as a general rule, are insecure, defensive, and terrified of criticism. Perhaps many are. But if we believe our theology as Calvinists, these traits should not characterize the Reformed pastor. Moreover, it is not just the pastors who can be faulted; congregations often fail to criticize their pastors in ways that are even remotely Christian.

With these things in mind, the pastor should know that he will receive criticism; not if but when. Therefore, let us ministers, as the Authorized Version has it, “quit ourselves like men” and prepare for it. Here are some things to consider as we gird up our minds:

1. Recognize that, as a minister, you are a sinner, first and foremost. Say to yourself: “I have nothing to commend myself to God. I am not only likely to err, but inclined to do so apart from his amazing grace in Christ.” Sing with the hymn writer: “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” Beginning here will put the axe to the root of defensiveness.

2. The second follows from the first. If I am as sinful as the Bible says I am (and all of us are), then whence pride? Whence the defensive posture? Surely it’s madness to think that I am really as great as I am convinced other people think I am. After all, God looks on the heart – and that is a very scary truth. So, knowing that my heart is deceitful above all else, I must receive criticism with the eyes of my heart wide open: the person bringing the complaint against me is being very charitable, no matter what he or she says. He doesn’t know the half of it! In fact, my heart could supply a rap sheet that would make a Chicago cop blush. Thus, no matter the criticism, there are far worse things I have thought and entertained than what the person is bringing to my attention.

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