malyonleadership.com

How do you react when your great ideas or plans are rejected? A few leaders handle this easily. They just move on and come up with another idea. But most of us are pretty tied to our perspectives. I think that's a good thing. We are committed to our ideas. We emotionally invest in our visions. But this investment means that it hurts when our ideas are not accepted.

I tend to go very quiet when this happens. It takes me a while to overcome a sense of frustration (and rejection I guess). I may even become a little cranky. I feel like saying: "Well do it your way, but I'm not going to lift a finger to help." Some people actually say these sorts of things. They threaten to resign unless they get their way. Others get angry and lash out. Some abusive leaders even attack others personally.

It comes as no surprise that healthy churches are usually churches that are full of stories. Stories of what God has done in the past. Stories of what God is doing in the present. Stories of what God can do in the future. The Bible is mainly story too. The Hebrews knew God through story. And we live in a story culture. Even our news comes in story. We love movies.

There is something about story that touches us and inspires us, far more than facts and ideas. 

Sometimes stories are shared naturally, but sometimes we need to be intentional, so here are a few ideas.