Dealing with Criticism as a Worship Leader – How to handle negative feedback and complaints

It looks like a concert,

and the lights blind my eyes.

You sing too many new songs, bro.

The music is too loud.

It hurts my ears.

How dare you wear ripped jeans

in God’s house and a baseball cap?

How do we handle criticism

as a worship leader.

Recently, I had two academy students

share that they’ve received some negative

feedback from their congregants.

One of them had received

quite a lot of negative feedback

and seemed to ignore all of it.

She said, As long as you’re listening

to God and doing what he tells you,

you don’t have to listen to anyone else.

I disagree with that statement,

and I’ll tell you why.

Leadership is about taking people from

point A to a more desirable destination.

But in order to get them there,

you have to keep them along the way.

If you lose the people

you’re leading, you’ll never

get them to the promised land.

Leadership is about meeting people where

they’re at and taking them somewhere

better, one baby step at a time.

Instead of ignoring feedback and criticism

or being super discouraged by it,

let me suggest a better approach.

Here are five ways to handle criticism as

a worship Don’t get bitter, get better.

This is about your attitude,

how you’re receiving the feedback.

Don’t view it as an enemy,

view it as a friend.

Feedback is a chance for you to level up.

It’s a chance for you to grow.

Feedback is simply more data

to put into your decision-making model.

It will make you stronger.

It will give you a wider perspective.

It will give you a view on things

that maybe you never considered before.

It’s not hurting you, it’s helping you.

Kiss that feedback.

It’s there to help you.

Scripture says, A wise man takes advice.

If you to be a better leader,

don’t avoid feedback.

Actually, invite feedback.

Don’t take it personally.

Don’t view it as an attack.

It’s actually a chance

for you to level up.

Don’t get bitter, get better.

Number two, eat the seed,

spit out the husk.

Don’t be like one of those weird people

who choose sunflowers seeds hole.

Actually, I used to do that.

Leave a comment if you did, too.

But there is a kernel

of truth in every hard shell.

Even if someone delivered it

with unkind words, there’s usually

a kernel of truth buried deep inside.

So rip open the hard shell and ask God

to show you what’s that nutritious little

kernel inside that will help you

grow, improve, and get better.

To get to the gold,

you got to dig through the dirt.

Remember that the gold is

buried inside the dirt.

Next, pay attention to patterns.

If multiple people share the same thing

and you’re hearing it from different

sources or you’re hearing it over an

extended period of time, pay attention.

You might be bumping into a blind spot.

And by definition, a blind spot means

that you can’t see your own problem.

You need other people’s voices

to tell that you have a problem.

So don’t be defensive.

If you’re seeing a pattern,

there’s probably a problem.

You might not like it,

but it might be true.

If I hear a comment from just one

person, I usually ignore it.

Everybody’s got their preferences.

But if I hear something

from multiple people over multiple

weeks, I really need to say, Alex,

you might have a blind spot here.

I recently had a friend come and guest

lead worship at our church, and I forgot

to tell her about our dress code

because it’s a little bit higher standard

than my previous church.

She came with ripped jeans.

I got so many emails from people saying,

saying, I can’t believe you let someone

on the stage with holes in their jeans.

We’re not that holey.

Now, in my mind, were they overreacting?

Yes, they were.

But since I heard it from 10

people, I said, You know what, Alex?

You did make a mistake.

You forgot to tell this girl

about the higher standard of dress code.

It was my bad, and I needed outside input

to show me where I made a mistake.

I didn’t get bitter.

I got better.

Next time, I’m going to make sure

to let my guests know, Hey,

this is our dress code standard.

Even if I think it’s a little too

legalistic, and by the way, I did try

to shepherd those people through email

about their attitude and reaction.

Even still, I need to adapt to

my current church’s culture.

Remember, leadership

is meeting people where they’re at

and leading them one baby step at a time.

That leads to my fourth point,

which is to seek to please God,

but adapt to lead people.

Paul said, I’ve become

all things to all people.

Paul adapted his approach to reach

the people he was trying to reach.

Jesus said that Moses allowed laws

about divorce as a concession

for the people’s hardness of hearts.

It wasn’t the ideal,

but he made a concession for them.

As leaders, we need to listen to

those we lead and be patient with them.

My favourite verse, Paul

says, Be patient with them all.

And so, yes, you want to seek

to please God above all else,

but you need to listen to the people

that you’re leading and adapt to help

them go on the journey to the promised

land, which means we need to be humble.

When you receive criticism,

be open to changing.

You might be the one who does need

to Don’t just have a hard shell

and be like, Everyone else is wrong.

I’m right.

They don’t know what

they’re talking about.

No, listen.

Truly listen to what they’re saying

and try to find the heart

underneath the harsh words.

Proverbs 19:20 says, Listen

to advice and accept discipline.

At the end, you’ll be

counted among the whys.

Listen, don’t be discouraged

by that feedback.

It’s your friend.

Invite it.

Be grateful for the feedback

and don’t get bitter, get better.

If you’re looking for support when feeling

beat down and discouraged,

join our free portion of our academy where

we have over a thousand worship leaders

from all over the world,

encouraging one another,

sharing their struggles,

sharing advice with one another.

It’s completely free, and you

can get access by clicking the link below

or by visiting worshipministrytraining.

Com/free.

If you’re serious about growing in your

worship leading and you want all of our 10

in-depth courses,

our live monthly trainings,

our group classes,

our personalised coaching,

and done for you admin systems

and discipleship material,

you can try

the Worship Ministry Training Academy

for just $1 by clicking the link below.

But either way, click one of those links

below to find the encouragement

and support that you need in the midst

of a difficult ministry job.

I look forward to seeing you

inside the academy or in the next video.

God bless.