Almost 50 years ago, in my first few months of pastoring, I was sitting around a table with five other young and inexperienced pastors. We were in a small meeting room at Montana State University in Billings, Montana. Seated with us was Jerry Cook, pastor of East Hill Church in Gresham, Oregon, and author of the book Love, Acceptance, and Forgiveness.

Jerry gave us a piece of wisdom that day that has stuck with me all these years. He said, “Your authority will never be established until it’s challenged.” That sentence seemed to freeze-dry itself in midair. I didn’t fully understand what it meant because I was still inexperienced in leadership, but I was smart enough to write it down and remember it.

Dealing with anyone who challenges our authority is not easy. It’s not an excuse for leaders to “power up” and bear down on people to reassert their authority and silence dissent.

Rather, it is an opportunity for leaders to evaluate their personal response to the challenge and, hopefully, move into a new dimension of their calling with greater humility. It will make our response to a challenge more authentic and acceptable to those watching how we handle disagreements.