One of my greatest pet peeves is when people publicly speak negatively about a church. “I didn’t take their classes so they wouldn’t let me teach in a children’s class” or “I was going to play my instrument for church, but that church wanted me to do an audition! I can’t believe it!” or “That church’s theology is messed up!” or “That pastor can’t keep his life together” or “Those elders at my church are *grumble grumble*” or “The music is too *grumble grumble.”
THINK FOR A SECOND. What impression does that give to a non-Christian? It’s not a good one. Some of the complaints I mentioned probably have reasonable explanations, and some of them are valid complaints – BUT NONE OF THEM NEED TO BE SAID PUBLICLY. Don’t you realize we are part of the Body of Christ? There are non-Christians watching us. Quit portraying Christianity as the “Arguing Club”!
Some issues do need to be brought up – such as a church’s theology or the incompetence of a pastor. But it never needs to be brought up publicly. Keep your mouth shut. That stuff ought to be brought up to other Christians as they need the information.
Keep the peace. Keep unity. And KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT (That’s a great blog post – go read it!).Â
It’s not just about non-Christians watching…it hurts the body itself!
With a capital “B”! 🙂
Yes it does – but many negative things people say about churches is meant to ultimately HELP the body — and it DOES (well, at least the negative things that are meant to spur a positive change). But even those bits of negativity that ultimately HELP the Body – if said publicly they will HURT the image of the Church towards non-Christians.
You hit the nail on the head. Thank you for stating it!
I’m not sure I agree. Everyone has the right to speak their opinion, and they’re not representing christianity, they’re representing themselves. And telling people to keep their mouths shut about issues is a little harsh and unreasonable. We have the right of speech for a reason.
@Amber: The phrase “keep your mouth shut” would be harsh. I’m sorry you took that negatively. I never meant it harshly at all – I only used that phrase as a cute way to tie in with the EXCELLENT blog post that it linked to at the end … about “keeping your mouth shut.” 🙂 I was just trying to tie the two together.
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