Rev. Peter C. de Vries, Ph.D. has served Old Union since November 1993.
To learn more about Rev. Dr. de Vries, go to FaceBook, Linked-In, or his blog.
From the Pastor-
A healthy church (which is what we want Old Union to be) needs to have a good balance between two values: transparency and confidentiality. At first blush, they might seem to be at odds with each other. After all, transparency means an open sharing of information and confidentiality means limiting the sharing of information. But as we understand more fully what these two values involve, we can recognize some valuable tips to help us be both a church that is transparent and a church that honors confidentiality.
Transparency primarily has to do with the business of the church. It’s good for everyone to know, or at least to have the ability to learn about, the decisions that we make and the plans that we have. Except for very rare exceptions, everything we do as a church is an open book. Detailed financial reports are available for anyone who asks. If you want to look at church records and policies, session members and our office staff are happy to share them. Not only do we share a summary of what happens at our session meetings during worship the next Sunday, but we post the minutes in the lobby. In addition, session meetings are open for anyone who would like to attend.
Some churches and other organizations may hesitate to offer full transparency, out of two main concerns. First, decisions and policies may seem to be problematic if they are not viewed in context. In other words, if you don’t know the reason for why we do things a certain way, you might question how wise it is to do that. The remedy here is simple: ask. If you learn about something that just doesn’t make sense to you, ask someone who is involved with that part of our church life. Your question will likely either give you an answer to satisfy your concern or give us a new and different perspective to help us be more faithful and effective as a church. Second, churches may avoid full transparency to avoid complications and headaches. Transparency can lead to difficult questions that make things messy and slow things down. While that may be true, it’s worth it. Faithfulness is more important than efficiency. Sometimes, God guides us through those inconvenient questions.
Confidentiality, on the other hand has to do with the people of the church. One of the great gifts we share at Old Union is the deep caring and concern we have for each other. We are, after all, the church that encourages one another and builds each other up. But we would be wise to do so in a manner than honors and respects one another. Let’s take, for example, someone who is dealing with a health concern. There are some members of our church who want everyone in the church to know about it so we can pray for them and offer support in other ways. Other members, however, are more private and would rather not have anyone know what they are dealing with. Neither is right nor wrong. It is our calling, as a caring community, to honor and respect those wishes. A good rule of thumb is never to share something personal that another church member tells you unless they specifically say that it’s OK to tell others about it.
One of the rare instances in which we may not exercise full transparency is when it butts up against personal issues. For instance, if the session needs to address a conflict in our congregation, or if the deacons decide to provide financial support for someone in need, confidentiality trumps transparency.
Being an open book as a church while respecting one another’s privacy is one of the ways in we are able to live out our faithfulness to God as a congregation.
Peter
A healthy church (which is what we want Old Union to be) needs to have a good balance between two values: transparency and confidentiality. At first blush, they might seem to be at odds with each other. After all, transparency means an open sharing of information and confidentiality means limiting the sharing of information. But as we understand more fully what these two values involve, we can recognize some valuable tips to help us be both a church that is transparent and a church that honors confidentiality.
Transparency primarily has to do with the business of the church. It’s good for everyone to know, or at least to have the ability to learn about, the decisions that we make and the plans that we have. Except for very rare exceptions, everything we do as a church is an open book. Detailed financial reports are available for anyone who asks. If you want to look at church records and policies, session members and our office staff are happy to share them. Not only do we share a summary of what happens at our session meetings during worship the next Sunday, but we post the minutes in the lobby. In addition, session meetings are open for anyone who would like to attend.
Some churches and other organizations may hesitate to offer full transparency, out of two main concerns. First, decisions and policies may seem to be problematic if they are not viewed in context. In other words, if you don’t know the reason for why we do things a certain way, you might question how wise it is to do that. The remedy here is simple: ask. If you learn about something that just doesn’t make sense to you, ask someone who is involved with that part of our church life. Your question will likely either give you an answer to satisfy your concern or give us a new and different perspective to help us be more faithful and effective as a church. Second, churches may avoid full transparency to avoid complications and headaches. Transparency can lead to difficult questions that make things messy and slow things down. While that may be true, it’s worth it. Faithfulness is more important than efficiency. Sometimes, God guides us through those inconvenient questions.
Confidentiality, on the other hand has to do with the people of the church. One of the great gifts we share at Old Union is the deep caring and concern we have for each other. We are, after all, the church that encourages one another and builds each other up. But we would be wise to do so in a manner than honors and respects one another. Let’s take, for example, someone who is dealing with a health concern. There are some members of our church who want everyone in the church to know about it so we can pray for them and offer support in other ways. Other members, however, are more private and would rather not have anyone know what they are dealing with. Neither is right nor wrong. It is our calling, as a caring community, to honor and respect those wishes. A good rule of thumb is never to share something personal that another church member tells you unless they specifically say that it’s OK to tell others about it.
One of the rare instances in which we may not exercise full transparency is when it butts up against personal issues. For instance, if the session needs to address a conflict in our congregation, or if the deacons decide to provide financial support for someone in need, confidentiality trumps transparency.
Being an open book as a church while respecting one another’s privacy is one of the ways in we are able to live out our faithfulness to God as a congregation.
Peter
Old Union Presbyterian Church | 200 Union Church Road, Mars, PA 16046
724-538-8672 | [email protected]
724-538-8672 | [email protected]