How might church reformation be handled poorly? Well, I think 2 Timothy 2 speaks pretty closely to this when the Apostle Paul told Timothy that, you know, the servant of the Lord mustn't be quarrelsome, but he must be patient with all, knowing that people are in many cases in bondage to the devil and that they must be granted repentance by the Spirit of God. So a faithful shepherd can't be in a hurry about this. He may be zealous. He may want to see instantaneous change, but he's got to recognize that this is often going to be a tedious and long and slow process, even as the Reformation itself was.

So, in a direct answer to the question, one of the most manifest ways in which Reformation is handled poorly by pastors is if they become impatient about it and perhaps vexed and annoyed with the Lord's people rather than see them as a flock of weak sheep. On the other hand, another way in which reformation is handled poorly is if a pastor recognizes serious unbiblical practices in his church and he simply sits back and does not resolve to make specific plans as to how am I going to go about addressing this. How will I point these things out in a patient and thoughtful, perhaps tender and gentle way, but a determined way? And, frankly, another way in which Reformation is handled quite poorly is by merely self-willed effort from leadership to change things rather than being men of prayer about it.