Sadly in many churches, loyalty is something that is severely lacking. One of the greatest character traits of an effective worship leader is to be loyal to his or her pastor, teams, and church.
In this video we talk about the importance of loyalty as well as some guidelines for how to practice it, even in some sticky situations. Here are three main take-aways…
1. Praise in public, confront in private
Never confront someone over an issue in the presence of other people. Always show respect and loyalty to them by doing it in private. On the other hand, when someone does something well, praise them for it publicly – let others know the things you value while showing honor and loyalty to that person.
2. Eliminate relational triangles
This one can easily be summed up by saying ‘don’t talk about people behind their backs’. Never complain about your team, your pastor, or anyone in your church (or anyone at all, really) to another person. This creates a relational triangle, and it breaks trust and loyalty. Conversely, do not entertain other people who want to talk to you about someone else. Always try to address conflict head-on. Matthew 18 gives us clear instruction on how to do this.
3. Defend each other
This is related to point two. If somebody ever approaches to you talk or complain about someone on your team or in your church, always defend them and try to bring people toward the conflict resolution guidelines laid out for us in Matthew 18.
Confrontation is a fight. It is so worth it to encourage someone who is confiding in you about conflicts to fight (confronting conflict). Fight towards unity and peace. Peace is impossible without war. Unity is impossible without confrontation. But it’s worth it! So do it! If you don’t say what it is you have to say (even if you’re wrong) those unspoken thoughts will breed resentment and disunity (giving that Devil a foothold.)
These past two modules were amazing. SO challenging and important. Thank you. I just kept thinking of Proverbs 6: 19 that one of the things the Lord hates is someone who stirs up dissension among brothers. We should work so hard to fight it but it is not always easy when we don’t agree with the direction of how things are going.