Sorry to hear that.Hats Off wrote:The high lighted sentence above would make a world of difference to me. I resent being blown off.Wade wrote:I think how we view leaders is much at the core of the problem. People say they will go ask their Pastor when someone has a question and haven't really spent the time to learn themselves, some say the are not qualified to lead out a bible study, some say they weren't ordained to preach so they don't bother to share the good news publicly, and etc. If we fall into these types of mindsets we are likely expecting too much from a leader in doing our work for us and we will get frustrated.Ms. Izzie wrote: I agree with that. Any thoughts on what makes us lose respect for our leaders? Is it their actions, our character problems or a mixture of both? Or something else entirely?
A way for leaders to handle this is to place a bit more responsibility on people. An example: I received an email some time ago about an upcoming Sunday school lesson and this persons mass disappointment in it. I think he was so upset he was ready to divide... I really couldn't understand his perspective very well and so I ended up asking him to lead out since he had spent more time looking at it than me. The calm reply and shift of responsibility resulted in slowing down to think, and then he apologize. Sunday school went smoothly as we came into it with a better perspective on what we should expect from one another. The original email was a cause of a bit of stress and some sincere prayers but I am grateful this brother was willing to speak up in the first place - I let him know I was glad too.
I believe it is critical for a leader to find ways to get people involved.
I ask the people we fellowship with if they are comfortable with things and if I should change anything I am doing to better glorify Christ? Even if they don't have any insight I have noticed just me asking this changes their demeanor in how we relate to one another.
If you were here you might be saying like what others are implying - that I don't step in enough...