SERIAL
7
Preaching problems:
advice from our panel
THE SCENARIO
RICHARD LITTLEDALE
After every sermon I preach,
I receive a letter from a
member of my church –
delivered to the church
office by hand on Monday
morning. The letters are
long, detailed, and brutally
critical. My administrator
will usually make a bit of a
joke about it as she hands
it over, and I laugh along,
but the truth is I have come
to dread the very sight of
those envelopes. I try to take
on board any of the critique
that seems fair, and I don’t
want to be defensive, but
over time I am finding my
confidence undermined and
when I stand up to speak, all
I can think about is how it
will be attacked and picked
apart. My correspondent
never talks to me about what
he has written, and when we
meet he is perfectly friendly.
Any advice?
The first thing to say is that you
have taken a significant step
forward by writing about this. An
awareness of your own feelings, and
an honest assessment of the impact
this has had on you is a good thing.
Secondly, why not find a trusted
friend (either the admi