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What Should We Do With Church BULLIES?

Anyone interposing himself between the Lord Jesus and His church is asking for it.

Sometimes—as I keep getting reminded by readers—that would-be dictator is the pastor, a man sent by God to be the shepherd of the sheep, but who has forgotten that he does not own the flock and cannot do with it as he pleases.

More likely, however, the man (it’s almost always a man) who takes it upon himself to run the church is a layperson with what he thinks are dynamic leadership skills.

My observation is that he is a bully in other ways and places too, particularly at home and in the office. (He usually owns his own company and thus calls the shots without interference from anyone.)

1. Bullies are wrong about themselves.

They don’t think of it as bullying: They’re just taking the leadership when no one else will. Filling the vacuum.

Church bullies tend to be assertive, take-charge people. And that’s not all bad. We need such people in society. So many problems go neglected until someone steps up and says, “We can fix this.”

The error comes when they run over people to “fix” matters, when they ignore the God-appointed leadership to get their way, and when they get angry if they are not honored as the true congregational leader they see themselves to be.

The best way to tell if one reading this is a bully is to ask yourself, “How do you handle rejection?”

No one likes rejection. No one enjoys our opinions and recommendations being ignored or even dissed.

But that happens to all of us from time to time, and when it does, the way we handle it tells worlds about our character and our motives.

Can you remain in the background and simply pray for the leadership of your church, and submit yourself to their decisions? (See Hebrews 13:17 and be amazed.)