It’s been a wonderful ten years in ministry at my church. And it’s also been very hard.
Some of the hardest moments have come when I’ve been the recipient of criticism, the cause of controversy, and involved in conflict. Sometimes the criticism was justified, and I needed to hear it, but other times it was just someone being mean and hurtful. And sometimes the controversy was because I had unknowingly ruffled some feathers, while other times it was because I stumbled into some spiritual strongholds. And sometimes the conflict was over insignificant things like whether or not we should have drums play during communion, and sometimes it was over major things like whether drums are Satanic in origin or not (they’re not).
For many years I struggled with responding to challenges with defensiveness, all the while getting my feelings hurt, my ego bruised, and my identity in limbo. I’d write multi-page emails responding to a woman’s harmless complaint about volume, or I’d be a bit of a jerk in a meeting with someone who thought the 4/4 rock beat was going to cause people to lose their salvation, or I’d get depressed, lose sleep, and get overwhelmed.
Ministry can be very tough and lonely at times. Especially when you have detractors. What do you do?
Cling to the good news of Jesus Christ
You. Are. Hidden. In. Christ. That’s very good news. And you can’t let yourself forget it when you’re someone’s target. You are safe, you are loved, you are accepted, and you are covered by Jesus’ blood. It’s amazing how freeing this is, and how bad things can get for you when you forget it.
Rest assured: most of the time it’s not about you
When you have the unfortunate experience (and you will) of being the target of someone’s displeasure, remember that it’s most likely not about you. Maybe it is. But most of the time it’s not. Address their concerns, listen to them, and respond with grace. Apologize if you need to and then move on. Don’t let someone fixate on you. If they’re mad, it’s probably because they’re sad.
Practical tip #1: stay away from email
Email is good for everyday stuff. It’s bad for weighty stuff. An in-person conversation is ALWAYS better. Always. One of the biggest mistakes (or, sequence of mistakes) in my last ten years was keeping a multi-week dialogue over email running with someone who was very upset with me. It was terrible. I should never have allowed it to go on like that.
Practical tip #2: have hard conversations in neutral territory
Another one of the biggest mistakes I made was insisting that someone come to my office for a difficult conversation. Understandably, they flat-out refused. Never insist on dealing with difficult issues in your office. It immediately places you in the “winning” position. Find a public place, like a Panera with semi-private-yet-public booths. The dynamic is instantly more favorable for a good conversation, not a confrontation. If a conflict has reached a point where it needs to be in an office, have it in one of your pastor’s offices with him present.
Be quick to make it right
Just get it over with and reach out to someone with a personal card, or a phone call, or a coffee, and put the difficult issue to rest. The longer it drags on, the more the molehill becomes a mountain.
Be steadfast
Too many people in ministry are incredibly afraid of the slightest whiff of criticism, controversy, or conflict, that they’ll do anything to avoid it, including changing their mind, accommodating the critics, weakening their convictions, and literally trying to keep everybody happy. This is one definition of insanity. Sometimes you just need to stick to your guns.
Never forget: you have been called by God
God is faithful. He will defend you. He will accomplish his purposes in and through you. No elder board, no angry member, no petition, no nasty email, and no “I’m going to leave the church unless…” should frighten you. You can sleep well and let him deal with your problems for you. You’ll be much happier in ministry and you’ll last a lot longer too.
Worthily Magnify 
A very good word… Wish I had had it 8 years ago… 🙂
Thank you Jamie for your insights. I’ve been in worship ministry for 30 years and sometimes it’s very difficult and you doubt and question yourself and then the devil gets to your head and uses it to try to destroy you or take you out of ministry. It’s getting harder to find quality Christians to serve with these days, which then sets the stage for conflict. I just recently had a worship team of 5 and now it’s down to 2. It seems it always one step forwards and two steps back. We are a small church of only 4 years. My husband is the Pastor and it’s a blessing to be on the same page. We just want to exalt Christ and the Gospel. My passion is theologically rich worship songs that minister to our congregation and honor the Lord. The popular sound where I live on the West Coast is “POP Worship”,devoid of much content. Anyways, I’ve just discovered your blog and so far I like what you post. Although I am not familiar with The Anglican Church here in America, I used to live in England and visited a few Anglican churches there. I am interested in finding out more about your church because it seems we share a common passion, something I did not see in the English Anglican churches. Blessings to you in your new position at your old/new church!
It was so refreshing to read this post. My wife and I have been worship leaders for nearly 18 years, now. I have walked away from our congregation’s worship committee meetings feeling beaten and bloodied. Better yet, with comments that the discussion is not over, yet, as we ran out of time to discuss all that needs brought up. In the midst of the “conversation” it is difficult to remember that “you are hidden in Christ” and that the comments are not about me. However, reading this gave me great encouragement and I thank you for sharing!!