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5 Ways to Develop a Spirit of Grace in Your Church | Pastor Paul ...

One of the greatest enemies to a spirit of grace in a church is criticism—from within or without. Our carnal nature is easily drawn into defending and taking sides, but doing so breeds a spirit of defensiveness and cynicism within a church.

As a young pastor, I observed churches that had a tendency to become heavily involved (and even defined by) current issues of dispute between various Christian leaders. These were not issues of doctrine or principle, but merely disagreements and personal grievances. I determined that I didn’t want Lancaster Baptist Church to become critical of other ministries or cynical of other Bible believing churches.

Over the years, I’ve asked the Lord to help me emphasize His grace in our ministry. Following are five guidelines to help pastors develop a spirit of grace in the church:

Much of the criticism we hear is fleshly. It often boils down to personalities or preferences and is born out of envy or pride (James 3:14–18). When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we will not engage in this kind of fleshly strife.

This point is crucial, because the spirit of a church is often a reflection of the spirit of the pastor. If a pastor is continually engaging in divisive bickering, his people will be drawn into it as well.

A pastor’s speech should model grace before the church family. Colossians 4:6 instructs, “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” Like salt, our speech should be a savory preservant, strengthening hearts for God and motivating spiritual appetites for growth.

Retaliation establishes “sides” and promotes the church family to take up an offense. When attacked, we should follow the example of Christ, “Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously” (1 Peter 2:23).

Forgiveness is a necessity—not an option—for a spiritual Christian. Matthew 5:44 commands us to forgive and to even invest in those who mistreat us: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, And persecute you.”

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