Ask the Editor - When sparks fly

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, November 5th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. In a moment, Ask the Editor for the month of November. But first—a quick programming note. On October 21st, Senior Editor Mindy Belz announced her time at WORLD was coming to an end. For 30 years, she’s been the eyes and ears for so many WORLD readers and listeners—and her colleagues—because she kept front and center the concerns of Christians in the Middle East.

BROWN: WORLD’s Emily Whitten interviewed Mindy for the September Classic Book of the Month. We ended up only using a small portion of that conversation. So this weekend, we’re sharing a much longer version of it to mark the end of Mindy’s tenure at WORLD. You’ll find that in The World and Everything in It podcast feed on Saturday.

EICHER: Time now for Ask the Editor. Here’s executive producer Paul Butler with some tips for how agreeably to disagree with us.

PAUL BUTLER, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: We frequently ask you for feedback. And just to be clear, we want to hear more than praises and “attaboys” — but also your concerns and disagreements. Frankly, it helps us improve.

In September, a pastor wrote this criticism:

One of my deacons suggested I listen to your podcast years ago and I took him up on it. At the time you were doing a good job but I’ve noticed the continual slipping from a Christ centered podcast to a pop culture, left leaning podcast with a “Jesus twist...”

A month earlier, another listener wrote this:

I use[d] to listen to your podcast but unsubscribed today. You are not unbiased in your reporting...

These are hard things to read. But Solomon writes in Proverbs 27 verses 5 and 6: ​“open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. ​​Faithful are the wounds of a friend…”

So that got me thinking, how can we invite better disagreements? Here are some suggestions on how to be critical while at the same time honoring our unique relationship—based on a shared faith in Christ.

In Ephesians chapter 4, Paul encourages believers to walk worthy of their calling with humility, meekness, forbearance, and striving for unity—all marks of Christian charity.

In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul explains that love—among many other things—suffers long, and does not behave rudely. It is not provoked. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

So we’re called to both love one another and strive for unity in the Spirit. So how we might do that practically as listeners and podcasters who follow Christ but sometimes disagree?

First, believe the best. We are to remain open-hearted toward one another. Of course, we are to test everything by the word of God as the Bereans did, but we shouldn’t look at each other with constant suspicion.

Second, be gracious and respectful. Write unto others as you would wish to be written to.

Third, focus more on what was said than what wasn’t.

Fourth, seek to mend, and not tear down. Make an appeal as to a brother or sister.

Fifth, brevity. Three to five hundred words keeps the criticism specific and prevents piling on.

Sixth: avoid threats. Sometimes we get emails that end like this one:

I'm not just trying to be an angry critic...however, I encourage you to offer a public retraction of this segment. Until I hear that I will encourage our church to stay away.

Now I understand that convictions run deep, but there may be more productive ways to communicate how strongly you feel about a story or issue—at least at first.

Finally, remember the law of love.

When you do these things, the correspondence will be like iron on iron, sharpening and strengthening, not dulling or weakening.

Earlier this year, a long time reader and listener wrote a concise critique of a podcast segment. She thoughtfully laid out her position on why we got it wrong. She concluded this way:

“This was the first time I was disappointed with WORLD, so I can easily move beyond this and will continue to read, listen, and watch. I simply felt unsettled...compelled to send this feedback.”

She then ended by thanking us for considering her perspective and she affirmed our mission and vision for “trustworthy Christian journalism.”

Now that’s charity. That’s humility. That’s believing the best. And that’s endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And I think it’s a pretty good example of how to disagree.

I’m Paul Butler.

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