Unsolicited Advice

A post on Facebook from a pastor said, “May I have a moment of your time to talk about when and how your church resumes gathering? This is not advice to pastors. (I’m sure they’re getting plenty of unsolicited advice.) I want to share my perspective for those of you who are waiting for information from your pastors.” The pastor went on to offer a few do’s and don’ts for the coming months and first on the list was, “Give your advice and opinion only when it is requested…” I’m now trying to imagine the look on a pastor’s face if we in the congregation told him, “Give your advice and opinion only when it is requested.” Pastors and leaders sometimes fail to recognize that what they deem as “unsolicited advice”, may in fact may be a message from the Lord. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch, “During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul” (Acts 11:27-30 NIV). Thank goodness the message from Agabus, a fore-teller, was not perceived as unsolicited advice.