{"id":20873,"date":"2000-10-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2000-10-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/2000\/10\/01\/confront-without-affront\/"},"modified":"2000-10-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2000-10-01T00:00:00","slug":"confront-without-affront","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/confront-without-affront\/","title":{"rendered":"Confront without Affront"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The notion of confronting someone used to leave me tongue-tied. But during my eight years in corporate management, I found that most people, when confronted in the right way, accepted correction and were grateful for help in approaching people or tasks in a more productive way.<\/p>\n\n<p>While filling in as children&#8217;s pastor, I placed Joanne (names throughout have been changed) in charge of a particular program. Soon, though, her enthusiasm turned to frustration and she became increasingly short with people. So I met with her.<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;Joanne, your passion for children&#8217;s ministry shows in the way you&#8217;re tackling this job,&#8221; I said. &#8220;How do you feel about what you&#8217;re doing?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;It seems people avoid me when I head their way,&#8221; she said with a bemused smile. That was the opening I needed.<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;Joanne,&#8221; I said, &#8220;I think some are trying to avoid you. I&#8217;ve heard from a few that they felt you ordered them to help in your area. I know you asked, but I think what they&#8217;re hearing is &#8216;You have to help.'&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>With guilt and shame she said, &#8220;I feel terrible that they think I ordered them around. I&#8217;m certain that I asked them.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;How were you feeling when you talked to them?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;Frustrated,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;Joanne, when I&#8217;m passionate about something and others don&#8217;t seem to share my passion, I get frustrated, too. I think we&#8217;re much alike in this way. I&#8217;ve had to learn to really listen to what I say and how I say it. Otherwise, I find myself demanding instead of asking. Perhaps that&#8217;s what happened here. You&#8217;re very valuable to our children&#8217;s ministry. I&#8217;m sure that once parents know your heart they will want to help. Would you do me a favor and try to really listen to how you ask people for help?&#8221; I hoped I had pointed her in a positive direction.<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll try,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead1\">Seeking objective facts<\/h2>\n\n<p>When trying to determine whether or not confrontation is necessary, I have learned that if I have not observed the problem directly, then I must get information from several sources. I&#8217;ve been embarrassed when I confronted a situation based on only one person&#8217;s account. In Joanne&#8217;s case, three people came to me independently: &#8220;Carol, Joanne told me I had to help in my child&#8217;s room.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>This confirmed we had problem. I needed to step in before she alienated all of the parents she wanted to recruit!<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead1\">What were they thinking?<\/h2>\n\n<p>If I determine a problem needs to be confronted, then I try to figure out the other person&#8217;s point of view. Sometimes this gives me a new perspective.<\/p>\n\n<p>Not long ago, I considered confronting our worship leader. As a member of the worship team, I felt picked on and unappreciated. But as I weighed it from his perspective, I realized it was my insecurity, not insensitivity on his part, that caused the friction&mdash;I had no reason to confront him.<\/p>\n\n<p>Other times, seeing things from the other person&#8217;s perspective helps me determine what she is likely to say. Since people usually get defensive when confronted, being prepared for their reactions helps me stay objective.<\/p>\n\n<p>With Joanne, I knew she truly believed she was asking for&mdash;not demanding&mdash;help. So I could explore what emotions might have been producing those effects. She did not get defensive or emotional, just thoughtful.<\/p>\n\n<p>Sometimes, though, I have been surprised by what the other person is thinking. &#8220;Jim&#8221; led the usher team for one of our Sunday services, but he never scheduled workers in advance. Consequently, the service always seemed chaotic. I figured Jim just needed some training, so I talked to him.<\/p>\n\n<p>To set the tone, I generally begin with praise of the things the person is doing well. Every person has something I can find to praise.<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;Jim, thank you for always being faithful to this ministry. How do you think it&#8217;s going?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;Pretty much the same as always&mdash;a little hectic,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;What do you think we could do to make this less stressful?&#8221; I asked.<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;Oh, it&#8217;s okay,&#8221; he confidently replied.<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;Do you know who is going to be here each week?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;No. I just ask people I know as they walk in if they want to help.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>We were on two different planets! He did not see a need to change. When I asked if he would like a co-leader to schedule ushers, he readily agreed. Now, with a helper for Jim, the service runs much smoother.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead1\">Location, location, locution<\/h2>\n\n<p>Confrontation demands a time and place that is convenient, yet provides privacy. Confrontation should not have an audience! Therefore, I try to meet them where we can be alone at a time they choose.<\/p>\n\n<p>I talked with Mike while we walked around the church property. No one was within earshot when I asked, &#8220;How do you feel your class is going?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;Not too well. I think I took on too much with this study of Romans. Would you mind if I ended it in two weeks?&#8221; He knew there was a problem and had his own solution. Now that was an easy confrontation.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead1\">When good plans go bad<\/h2>\n\n<p>What happens when the confrontation does not work?<\/p>\n\n<p>Joanne seemed to accept what I told her. But a few weeks later, she asked to see me alone.<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t like the way you told me to discipline some of the kids. You shouldn&#8217;t have used their names.&#8221; She launched a list of grievances. &#8220;You should pray at the beginning and the end of our meetings. You hurt my feelings when I first declined this job and you said you understood, that you knew I had a demanding job. I had to find someone to be my assistant before you would take me,&#8221; she blurted.<\/p>\n\n<p>Joanne had suppressed her anger. As I listened, I tried to make sense of what she was saying. In truth, it made no sense to me initially.<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;Joanne, I have great confidence in your abilities in disciplining children and in doing this job. I&#8217;m sorry that if what I said on those occasions made you think otherwise. I appreciate that you came to me and let me know. Without your help, children&#8217;s ministry would suffer.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>I tried to respond to each infraction while also trying to address her feelings; I believed that she felt I did not value her. Clearly, I had not made a good enough effort to give her the positive reinforcement she needed, something I subsequently tried to correct.<\/p>\n\n<p>Sometimes the only way to successfully reach an agreement is to allow time for reflection, prayer, and healing.<\/p>\n\n<p>Confrontation may not ever become easy. But knowing ways to speak the truth in love is essential in ministry. I continued encouraging Joanne every time I saw her. Eventually, she greeted me with a smile and genuine warmth. When the new director of children&#8217;s ministry joined our staff, Joanne&#8217;s job was done. She wrote me a letter thanking me for the personal growth she experienced, direct evidence of the power of a positive, loving confrontation.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"is-style-article-copyright\">Copyright &copy; 2000 by the author or Christianity Today\/<em>Leadership<\/em> Journal.\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/le\/help\/permissionsprivacy\/permissions.html#answer\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"copyright\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here<\/a> for reprint information on <em>Leadership<\/em> Journal.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The notion of confronting someone used to leave me tongue-tied. But during my eight years in corporate management, I found that most people, when confronted in the right way, accepted correction and were grateful for help in approaching people or tasks in a more productive way. While filling in as children&#8217;s pastor, I placed Joanne <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/confront-without-affront\/\">Read more&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[1064],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[154],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[131],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[668,669,156],"tax_ctp_tags":[3666,3671,3856,4604,4606],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-20873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-carol-n-cooper","tax_publications-2000-leadership-journal","tax_publications-fall_2000-leadership-journal","tax_publications-leadership-journal","tax_ctp_tags-conflict","tax_ctp_tags-confrontation","tax_ctp_tags-emotions","tax_ctp_tags-pastor","tax_ctp_tags-pastors-role"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Confront without Affront - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The notion of confronting someone used to leave me tongue-tied. 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