THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER
Charles Cerling, Jr.
April 1, 1986
Jim was sharing the rousing success of his church. In three years he had turned a dissension-torn church in the middle of nowhere into a unified, booming success. When he arrived, barely enough people attended to support the church. Now they are talking about two services. The church has made major building improvements while putting money in the bank-in an area with 15 percent permanent unemployment! I could almost feel horns of envy sprouting from my head.
Envy's green eyes often glow in the ministry, but we don't often discuss it. Are we afraid to admit we look at what other church leaders have-and feel sorry they have it and we don't? It quickly leads to backbiting and gossip among church leaders.
As I left a conference on ministry in the eighties, a colleague fell into step beside me. He struck up a conversation about my former job as a staff member in a nearby church.
"I hear you relocated after a push from the church board, Chuck. I'm not surprised. From what I hear, Don was a very difficult person to work with. I sometimes wonder how anyone could successfully work with him."
The bait was there. All I had to do was share a little dirt that is part of all staff relationships. But if I had, the trap would have sprung. Instead I said, "Don and I may have had our differences over the years, but I still think he's a fine pastor." Our conversation ended abruptly.
How easy it is, though, to justify envy's critical comments about others in ministry. We aren't condemning, we claim, simply "observing some obvious weaknesses." We don't mean to be critical; they simply don't measure up.
I minister in a Baptist denomination that has been losing ground for the past decade. Our counterpart, the Southern Baptists, has grown rapidly during ...
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