We have to become thermostats, not thermometers... we have to set and maintain the atmosphere of the church, not just reflect it. So we need to keep 'gossiping the good' by bragging on what God is doing, and what the church is doing well... and we must refuse to entertain negative perceptions. I'm not talking about avoiding real issues here... I'm talking about defusing the doom-and-gloom nay-sayers who always seem to focus on the problems. We aren't blind to the problems... but we don't focus on them... we focus on what is good and what is working.
If we focused on the negatives in our spouses we couldn't stay married long... we learn to focus on the positives and why we love the person and let most of the negatives slide because in light of that love the negatives aren't that important. Likewise, there will always be problems in a church because it involves people... but we can't allow the problems to consume our thoughts because what we think on will affect what we say and do... and nobody wants to hang out with negative people.
