Dealing with Discouragement and Criticism (with Ben Cachiaras)

The CCL Network's "Leading Together" Webinars are online gatherings featuring some of the best sermon-shaping and skill-sharpening practitioners in the country. These webinars are FREE to participants thanks to the support of the Pension Fund of the Christian Church.

Research has backed up what every minister already knows from painful experience: More pastors are taken out by criticism and discouragement than by moral failure, burnout, or doctrinal problems.

Maybe you sense the gravity and truth of John Stott’s words: “The greatest danger for the preacher is not opposition from without but discouragement from within.” And if what Eugene Peterson says is true – that “pastoral work is largely a matter of absorbing pain” – how do we do that?

Let’s talk about the universal reality of criticism and discouragement in the ministry – and how to have a long, fruitful, joy-filled ministry anyway.

-Where criticism comes from and why it may be growing

-How to diffuse and deal with painful attacks (and even learn from it) before they discourage your spirit

-Practical steps to create a healthier, criticism-averse culture

-Protecting your marriage, family, and heart

-The biggest keys I’ve found to keep smiling and moving forward