{"id":65673,"date":"2004-06-02T21:22:00","date_gmt":"2004-06-02T21:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?p=65673"},"modified":"2026-03-17T21:23:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T21:23:37","slug":"well-intentioned-dragons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/well-intentioned-dragons\/","title":{"rendered":"Well-Intentioned Dragons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Every church has them\u2014sincere, well meaning Christians who leave ulcers, strained relationships, and hard feelings in their wake. They don\u2019t intend to be difficult; they don\u2019t consciously plot destruction or breed discontent among the members. But they often do undermine the ministry of the church and make pastors question their calling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Help for those who minister under all-too-common conditions of hostility, resistance, and interference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Well-Intentioned Dragons<\/em> guides those on church staffs in facing the strenuous task of dealing with difficult people\u2014even ministering while under attack. Based on real-life stories of battle-scarred veterans, Marshall Shelly presents a clear picture of God\u2019s love for those on both sides of the problem. He describes tested strategies to communicate that love and turn dissidents into disciples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is a book that will not only help pastors and church leaders preserve their sanity (and maybe their jobs); it will help them minister more effectively even to those who make life difficult.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every church has them\u2014sincere, well meaning Christians who leave ulcers, strained relationships, and hard feelings in their wake. They don\u2019t intend to be difficult; they don\u2019t consciously plot destruction or breed discontent among the members. But they often do undermine the ministry of the church and make pastors question their calling. Help for those who <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/well-intentioned-dragons\/\">Read more&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"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":[],"tax_ctp_books":[373],"tax_ctp_categories":[154],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[134],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[156],"tax_ctp_tags":[],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-65673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tax_publications-leadership-journal"],"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>Well-Intentioned Dragons - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Every church has them\u2014sincere, well meaning Christians who leave ulcers, strained relationships, and hard feelings in their wake. They don\u2019t intend to be\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/well-intentioned-dragons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Well-Intentioned Dragons - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every church has them\u2014sincere, well meaning Christians who leave ulcers, strained relationships, and hard feelings in their wake. 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