Keeping their spirits crushed, one duck at a time
One of my pastoral theology professors used to say that one definition of ministry is "to be nibbled to death by ducks." Of course, that goes back to Eric Sevareid (if not before), and he was speaking about network executives, but that doesn't make it any less true.
Blogger Richard Floyd's decades of ministry taught him a thing or two about how the ducks of ministry swim, waddle, and peck. His incisive "Ten Highly Effective Strategies for Crushing Your Pastor's Morale" includes these gems.
3. Make sure to have an annual customer satisfaction survey where every member of the congregation fills out an anonymous questionnaire about their views of the pastor’s performance during the previous year. Make sure all the negative (or ambiguous) comments are read aloud at several meetings, and publish them without attribution in the church newsletter.....
7. Whenever your pastor goes away and returns from denominational meetings or continuing education events never miss an opportunity to ask, “How was your vacation?”
Ouch!
See yourself - past or present - in any of this?
h/t Troy Beecham
