Its Easy To Criticise.....

A preacher was standing at the church door following the morning service he had taken.  It was his first visit to the church.  As people passed by, shaking his hand, he received the familiar comments;

“Lovely service”

“Nice hymns”

“Good sermon”

Then a fairly scruffy older man took his hand and said, “That was rubbish.  The hymns were terrible and your sermon was too long and very boring.  And as for your prayers…”  The man shuffled away.

A church elder was next in line and the Preacher commented, “It’s nicer to meet somebody who isn’t afraid to express his own opinion.”

The Elder replied, “It’s not his own opinion, I’m afraid.  He just repeats what he has overheard everybody else saying.”

There the story ends, but I imagine that preacher was left feeling quite deflated.  It isn’t easy to hear negative criticism from other people.  Even when it may be justified it can still be hard to hear, it can still upset us and make us feel uneasy or small. 

Sometimes the negative comments are not even justified.  I picked up on a comment on Facebook recently.  A Methodist Local Preacher had adapted one of John Wesley’s forty four sermons, modernising the language and illustrations but keeping to the theology.  A member of the congregation at the door told her that she had based her sermon on false ideas!  Wesley’s forty four sermons are part of the normative doctrine of the Methodist Church.  Some people seem to be negative just for the sake of it.

As a Methodist Local Preacher and now Student Presbyter I have sometimes had to comment on services and sermons delivered by Local Preachers ‘On Note’ and ‘On Trial’ and on other Student Ministers, as well as being commented upon myself.  It has sometimes been necessary to bring a criticism of some aspect of the service or sermon, but I have made it my practice to make at least three positive comments for every negative comment: that way a preacher can improve without feeling utterly crushed or deflated.  I know for myself that if the positive outweighs the negative then I can learn without feeling crushed.

So, a plea to those who shake hands with preachers on a Sunday morning (or evening); by all means tell us if you genuinely think we have got something wrong but please remember to tell us what you liked about the service as well.  We are all brothers and sisters in Christ and the Biblical injunction is not to tear each other down; but to build one another up in love.