Transparency…A Guest Post from Aaron Shaver

Today’s guest post is from Aaron Shaver, a fairly new blogging friend of mine who regularly writes about life and faith over on Shaver’s Razor. He’s a new dad and a youth ministry genius. Don’t forget to follow Aaron on Twitter @shaversrazor!

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Transparency- it’s not just a buzzword, it’s THE currency of the new Church in America. According to the all-knowing Wikipedia.org, the word transparency “as used in the humanities and in a social context more generally, implies openness, communication, and accountability.”

Transparency is a word I’ve seen used often on church websites. Or, I’ve heard it from a lead pastor describing to the congregation a pivotal behavior emulated by the staff/leadership at their church. Sometimes the actual word may not be used but instead I hear synonymous words like authenticity, honesty, real…etc. Usually, it goes something like, “Here at _________ Church we just want to be honest and let you see that we are broken and messed up people too. We ALL are in need of a savior.”

I tell you this because I believe this emphasis on being real, being honest, being transparent in the church is not just a fad but it is the currency of leadership to the GenX and GenY (or Millennial) generations. For more understanding on what I’m talking about look at the home page of Smyrna Assembly’s website (Real, Relevant, Relational) or read over the blog of Justin Davis, Campus Pastor at Crosspoint Church, or read over the bold language from the Core Values page on Church of Hope’s website.

Compare the concept of transparent leadership to the theme more often heard and offered in contemporary churches in during the last 3 decades – some bipolar choice between hard fundamentalism or comfort. I favor transparency over comfort for some obvious reasons. The most obvious being that transparency will always be authentic while comfort can be a lie-a mirage. Comfort can be fake. And, I favor transparency over fundamentalism because fundamentalism is usually just…well, angry.

For that very reason, transparency has called so many of the Gen X and Gen Y generations back to church who were once fed up because they experienced a church that tried to display a mirage: imperfect people pretending to be perfect and pastors using a position of authority to lord it over their congregation. Thankfully, I did not personally grow up experiencing this “mirage”. But, too many of my generation have walked away from church because they saw the people and the leadership as fake, inauthentic, and ineffective.

“SUNDAY’S COMING” – Heresy or Honesty?

Many of us saw the video that went viral from North Point Church just a few months ago called “Sunday’s Coming”.

This video was such a hit among contemporary Christian circles that enjoy and participate in the very type of worship experiences depicted in the video. It’s transparency at its best. The video used satire to show that any worship experience that is repeated for a group can become formulaic and possibly laughable no matter how genuine, relevant, or reverent it was once meant to be.

Transparency causes us to look honestly at ourselves and in turn receive others when they are honest with us. I show you my warts – you show me yours!

How do you think the church today is being impacted by transparent leadership?