Instead of playing Sunday Morning Critic, try these eight BE-attitudes …

Imagine …

… when you show up for work tomorrow, you’re immediately directed to the Human Resources office.

Not a fun way to start your day!

It turns out you’re not in trouble, but the HR team is meeting with every employee to inform them of a new practice that will be implemented the following Monday.

As it turns out, the company is switching to a new practice of doing an employee review with every employee every Monday morning.

That’s right, instead of your boss conducting a job review with you just once or twice each year, starting on Monday you’ll go through an employee review where your work is scrutinized by your boss every single Monday morning throughout the calendar year.

How you would like to have an employer who practiced such intense scrutiny of your work?

Most people would probably dislike such a practice to the degree many would change jobs in an attempt to avoid such smothering criticism.

Welcome to the world of pastors!

Did you know the way many Christians treat their pastors is just like going through a job review every Sunday?

For example, instead of listening to and learning from each sermon, you play Sunday Morning Critic, making sure you let the preacher know after the service whether his sermon was (in your opinion) good, just okay, not so good — in some way imparting a critique of the quality of that morning’s sermon.

In addition to that, you play critic on the selection of songs for the worship service, the quality of the Communion meditation, the appearance of the church facilities, and the overall comfort of the “experience” … and you place all of that squarely on the pastor’s shoulders.

It’s no wonder so many ministers leave vocational ministry every month, and about 50 percent of ministers leave ministry altogether by their fifth year in ministry.

Nobody wants 52 job reviews in a year! (and that’s per member!).

Instead of playing Sunday Morning Critic, try replacing that negative role with these eight BE-attitudes for “going to church”:

BE grateful. Believe it or not, it’s not your role to sit in a pew or padded chair every Sunday morning and critique the preacher’s sermon; it is your responsibility to learn from it. Every week, you have the opportunity to learn from someone who spends the bulk of their life studying scripture just to be able to correctly and effectively teach it to you! Be grateful! Not only that, but God has adopted you into His family and you have the chance every week to gather for fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ to worship God together, be taught from the Scriptures, and much more. If you approached a weekly gathering of your local church with the gratitude we all should have for such an opportunity, then the idea of playing critic every week wouldn’t even come to mind.

BE refreshed and encouraged. Instead of placing everything from the quality of greeting you receive to the content of the church bulletin that morning under your critical review, use the opportunity to gather for corporate worship with the family of God as a chance to refresh yourself spiritually from life’s routines and be encouraged by your spiritual family. That’s far more enjoyable than perching yourself on a pew for an hour of critiquing.

BE discipled. Every Sunday is an opportunity to learn, not just from the preaching and teaching, but also from the examples, testimonies, and fellowship from our church leaders and fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. “Going to church” is an opportunity to deepen our discipleship and be further equipped to stand firm as ambassadors for Christ. You really can’t do that if you’re busy playing Sunday Morning Critic.

BE challenged. Our greatest changes and accomplishments in life usually come from our greatest challenges. Living a life of faith, following in the footsteps of Jesus, can often seem to be daunting and difficult. We NEED the positive challenge of our leaders and faith family to help us stand firm in our faith in Christ, to deny ourselves, and daily take up our crosses and follow Him no matter the cost.

BE engaged. You’ll be tempted to feel entitled and to act like a critic if you spend your Sundays at church just sitting and watching everyone else, as if taking in a show. But gathering with the family of God begins to become what it’s supposed to be when, instead of just sitting there disengaged, we push ourselves to engage with others as our faith family, and to be warm and welcoming to visitors. When you refuse to engage with others, you’ll just sit and criticize what’s going on around you.

BE an encourager. Just as much as you really need the refreshing and encouraging that comes with being with God’s family, you have a rich opportunity to encourage others who will be buoyed by whatever encouragement you offer them. There’s not a person you’ll see on a Sunday morning who would not benefit from an encouraging word … including your pastor!

BE a contributor. If you gather with God’s family every week and never come with something to give, you will fall into the role of critiquing everyone else, starting with your pastor. Instead, come together with your church family with the intention of making a contribution. God has given every Christian a spiritual gift to be used in the church and for the benefit of others, so contribute! You can also offer encouragement, give financially, engage in the worship, and in many other ways make a contribution to your local church family … but playing Sunday Morning Critic isn’t one of them.

BE a servant. A critic is always analyzing for what they’re getting from something. Instead of showing up at church with an attitude like that, instead come to serve others. Make it your mission to let your brothers and sisters in Christ know you love them and are there to serve their needs in any way you can. An attitude like that will blow up the critical mind of just sitting and looking for what you don’t like.

Scotty