Navigating Criticism in Ministry (an interview with Ann Swindell)

Author: North American Mission Board
Published: Mon 06 Feb 2023
Episode Link: https://www.namb.net/podcasts/ministry-wives-podcast/navigating-criticism-in-ministry-an-interview-with-ann-swindell/

Criticism is inevitable in the life of a ministry wife, but learning to respond to it well takes patience, practice, and peace from the Lord. Author and teacher Ann Swindell joins me today to share how reframing her views of criticism and immersing herself in God’s Word allows her to navigate criticism with grace and love.

SHOW NOTES

Your job is not to fulfill what other people want. Your job is to fulfill what God wants.

Criticism always offers us an opportunity to grow, whether the remarks are valid or not.

The Word provides peace to carry us through the emotions that arise with criticism and righteous conviction.

QUOTES

“It’s hard to let people down. Behind my back, people could be saying, ‘Ann seems inaccessible or isn’t doing what I think a pastor’s wife should do.’ But my job isn’t to fulfill other people’s aims for my life. My job is to follow and walk with Christ in the season I’m in, trusting He will give me grace to do what I’m called to do.”

-Ann Swindell

“Criticism always offers us an opportunity to grow, and I want to grow in Jesus. I want to be a woman who is tendered to the Holy Spirit, who is humble, who is responsive. Two main ways I see it is either the criticism itself is valid, and there’s something in my character that needs to grow, or their criticism isn’t valid, and I have a chance to grow in how I love a difficult person.”

-Ann Swindell

“If I can get past my own defensiveness and to the heart of the person in front of me, God wants to heal them just as much as He wants to heal me. Usually I think criticism stems from a place of pain and, whether that pain is warranted or not, it can be very real for that person. We have an opportunity to shepherd and love them in that moment.”

-Ann Swindell