A Culture of "The Benefit of the Doubt"

One of the traits we've tried to hammer into the culture of Next Level Church over the years is what we call, " 

A Culture of the Benefit of the Doubt."

Put simply, it means that when you have the choice to assume the best or assume the worst about a leader, a situation or a decision, you simply lean into the side of assuming the best.

As an organization grows larger, it will become impossible for everybody to know everything about every decision that's being made by other leaders throughout the organization. That's when a "Benefit of the Doubt" culture kicks in. Because, as we tell our leaders, when you don't know what's going on, or what the logic behind a decision was, you have to assume the best and give that leader the Benefit of the Doubt.

Here are the 2 things we teach our leaders:

1.  Plead Authentic Ignorance & then Defend the heart.

If someone comes up to you and says, "Why did Matt decide to do ____..."

Your response should be:

"You know, honestly, I don't know anything about it. But here's what I DO know... Pastor Matt & everyone of our leaders are spiritual Godly men who seek God around every decision they make. And I'm confident there's a wise and logical reason behind the decision they made."

And #2...

2.  Offer to take them by the hand to the person they have a question or issue with.

The next statement out of an NLC Leader's mouth should be,

"You know, I know any of our pastors have no problem talking about any decision they've made in any area of our church. So would you like me to take you to them or set up a time for you to sit down with them and talk about your concerns in more detail?"

That is the Matthew 18, Biblical model for conflict resolution, by the way. And it also sets a precedent that what we're not going to do is wonder around and find someone else that we can spread our questions to. If a person really wants answers, we're more than happy to help them get them from the right people.

? Do your church / work / family / friend environments have a Culture of the Benefit of the Doubt? If not, what can you do to start creating one? It's well worth the effort and it cuts down on disunity big time.