GIVE PEOPLE A BENEFIT OF DOUBT

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GIVE PEOPLE A BENEFIT OF DOUBT!!!

(Wisdom Key To Managing Relationships In Ministry)

By Pastor Bimbo Animashaun 

Dear Minister, don't always preempt people or interpret their innocent and innocuous actions out of context — this is a basic rule in managing relationships in ministry. 

Learn to hear from people. Learn to give people a benefit of doubt. A couple of months ago, I taught at our Weekly WORKERS' SPECIAL TRAINING (WST) on the topic, "THE DANGERS OF ASSUMPTION IN LEADERSHIP."

From ministry experience, I realize that a lot of people assume what is not real and true, including ministers thereby developing ill feelings against innocent folks.

Many precious relationships in ministry have hit the rocks because of this grave error; many father-son and friend-friend relationships in ministry have been fractured because of this colossal error.

Yet the Word tells us very clearly:

1 THESSALONIANS 5:21

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

This is one of the most violated scriptures in ministry today. Someone said something about someone and you didn't bother to verify, and you started acting against the fellow.

Many of these stuffs abound in ministry, and they're simply manifestations of the works of the flesh.

We must learn to PROVE ALL THINGS, and then hold fast that which is good.

We must learn to give people a benefit of doubt untill they prove otherwise.

The Spirit of Christ cannot thrive where there's assumption and suspicion.

Sadly, I have seen many great and promising relationships in ministry destroyed because of assumptions and unverified facts.

Someone wrote a post sincerely out of the prompting of the Spirit but you suddenly assumed that the post was targeted at you — assumption.

You called someone twice on phone but he COULDN'T pick your calls and you suddenly assumed that he did it deliberately to dishonour you (no benefit of doubt) yet what happened was that he wasn't with the phone or may be it didn't ring out — assumption.

Someone did something innocent based on the current leading of the Spirit in his life and you suddenly assumed that he was just playing pranks on people, and that he had been nursing the idea for a long time — assumption — no benefit of doubt given.

A father in the Faith gave you an appointment and he couldn't meet up with it, and suddenly you begin to think that he despised you and that he doesn't believe in you.

I have seen young ministers trapped by this grave mistake — they get easily angry and offended at everything, and when you look at it closely, you will realize that they actually assumed wrongly and Satan took advantage of them, cutting them off destiny relationships in ministry.

I remember sometime ago; Daddy Bishop Francis WALE OKE gave me an appointment to see him, and I travelled down to see him, but on getting there, he wasn't on ground.

So, I said in my heart, "Praise God. For me to have even been called and invited in the first place, it's a privilege. There must have been an emergency that Baba had to attend to..."

God is my eternal Witness; that was my thinking. So I got another appointment, and when I met him later, I deeply appreciated the privilege to have been invited in the place first.

Baba told me that he was sorry that he couldn't see me the first time, and that he had an emergency call in his national assignment and he had to get on the plane hurriedly.

He told me about how he had visited the Body of Christ in Plateau State in the wake of the massacre of Christians that swept through an entire region in the state, and he just had to go and minister hope and consolation to the Body of Christ on the plateau.

I just went on my knees, saying "Daddy, thank you Sir for the privilege to have been invited in the first place. It's an eternal privilege Sir, and I do not take it for granted Sir. I wish my generation knew all these hidden labours and sacrifices..."

What a great meeting I was privileged to have with him that day. It was really A DATE WITH DESTINY.

For some other young ministers, the response and attitude would have been that of anger, offence and bitterness, and I personally believe that not giving A BENEFIT OF DOUBT in that instance is called SELFISHNESS.

Dear young minister, it's important to be civil, courteous and selfless. Stop assuming things that are not true.

Stop assuming that you're not loved or honoured until proven otherwise.

Learn to give A BENEFIT OF DOUBT — it's the best way to manage human relationships.

Ironically, someone somewhere doesn't just like you because of unproven and unverified reports they heard about you but you must not do that to others.

You must always:

1 THESSALONIANS 5:21

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

Remember that you're a CHRISTIAN first before being a MINISTER.

Learning to GIVE A BENEFIT OF DOUBT to folks in ministry will go a long way in preserving your God-ordained destiny relationships in ministry, while doing otherwise may sabotage a great destiny because in the final analysis, NOBODY RISES IN LIFE UNASSISTED.

May the Lord give us understanding!

Amen!! 

I trust this is a Blessing Sirs and Mas?

Enjoy The Rain Of God's Blessings!!!

Shalom!!!

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