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Transparency: A Cure for Hypocrisy in the Modern Church
Have you ever arrived at church feeling so stressed out that you thought to yourself, "I can't face these people" - and your strongest wish was to rush back home and dive into bed?
What on earth is happening here? How has church become a place where we must leave our "real selves" at the door - and pick them up later when we leave, more burdened than ever with loneliness, exhaustion, and hypocrisy?
Transparency offers one remedy to this lamentable situation.
Subtitled A Cure for Hypocrisy in the Modern Church, the book challenges readers to consider why we aren't transparent - including such issues as perfectionism, fear of man, and of course, pride and self-preservation. Likewise, the text shows how transparency unifies the body and crucifies sin, while also relieving the stress of pretending to be someone you're not. More important, the author highlights transparency in Scripture - in the lives of Job, Moses, David, Paul, and Jesus, among others; and he offers a practical framework for making openness work in the local church.
Imaging a life without the pretense and artificiality that cripples our fellowship - a life where church members are free to admit their sins and struggles, sharing their deepest needs, worries, and joys in an atmosphere of openness and authenticity.
That's the kind of life you will find in this book.
What on earth is happening here? How has church become a place where we must leave our "real selves" at the door - and pick them up later when we leave, more burdened than ever with loneliness, exhaustion, and hypocrisy?
Transparency offers one remedy to this lamentable situation.
Subtitled A Cure for Hypocrisy in the Modern Church, the book challenges readers to consider why we aren't transparent - including such issues as perfectionism, fear of man, and of course, pride and self-preservation. Likewise, the text shows how transparency unifies the body and crucifies sin, while also relieving the stress of pretending to be someone you're not. More important, the author highlights transparency in Scripture - in the lives of Job, Moses, David, Paul, and Jesus, among others; and he offers a practical framework for making openness work in the local church.
Imaging a life without the pretense and artificiality that cripples our fellowship - a life where church members are free to admit their sins and struggles, sharing their deepest needs, worries, and joys in an atmosphere of openness and authenticity.
That's the kind of life you will find in this book.
313 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2018
7 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 13, 2019
Such a helpful read for the church today. Especially in my own denomination, this weakness, lacking transparency, inhibits genuine growth. From our family life to the church pews, we need to be more open about our struggles with sin and not surprised when we see sin in the church, but rather strive for repentance. Reading Rosaria Butterfield's book alongside this has been extremely challenging and helpful as she echos so many of the same things and finds a very practical outworking in hospitality. This is a must read for church leaders today.
January 3, 2019
From the introduction - quoting another author, Henry Cloud, "It is interesting to compare a legalistic church with a good AA group. In the church, it is culturally unacceptable to have problems; that is being called sinful. In the AA group, it is culturally unacceptable to be perfect; that is called denial. In one setting people look better but get worse, and in the other, they look worse but get better."
This, I think, hits to the heart of what Joe is writing about. Joe follows up this quote (and he quotes many, many authors in this book) with the rhetorical question: "Which kind of setting should the church be?"
The fact that this is rhetorical kind of seems to hit the point too - honesty and directness is easier to find among addicts than among the saints. Maybe because we're often rhetorical or passive when we should be direct and aggressive. Sharing sin struggles is hard. Sharing hardships is hard. But for the church to serve her purpose and truly bear one another's burdens and produce sweet fellowship, we need to do hard things.
This book lays out the problems effectively and produces principles on how to become more transparent in a positive way. The pharisee in me would love more practical steps (I would love Joe Smith's top 10 ways to become more transparent!), but this book is going to make you reflect.
Even if you aren't interested in church (and I would suggest that you should be!), this book persuasively proves the benefits of true honesty (that is, transparency) in relationships everywhere.
Read it.
This, I think, hits to the heart of what Joe is writing about. Joe follows up this quote (and he quotes many, many authors in this book) with the rhetorical question: "Which kind of setting should the church be?"
The fact that this is rhetorical kind of seems to hit the point too - honesty and directness is easier to find among addicts than among the saints. Maybe because we're often rhetorical or passive when we should be direct and aggressive. Sharing sin struggles is hard. Sharing hardships is hard. But for the church to serve her purpose and truly bear one another's burdens and produce sweet fellowship, we need to do hard things.
This book lays out the problems effectively and produces principles on how to become more transparent in a positive way. The pharisee in me would love more practical steps (I would love Joe Smith's top 10 ways to become more transparent!), but this book is going to make you reflect.
Even if you aren't interested in church (and I would suggest that you should be!), this book persuasively proves the benefits of true honesty (that is, transparency) in relationships everywhere.
Read it.
July 12, 2023
4.5, but it deserves a round up!
Since I realized how much I hate feeling vulnerable in 2020, I have been looking for a Christian treatment of the subject. I enjoy Brene Brown's work but find her conclusions empty (I've only read book, and her observations were insightful but her solution of "I am enough" is a lie and totally unhelpful). The closest thing I've found till now is Andy Crouch's Strong and Weak, which was perceptive but ended up being more of a leadership book.
So Joseph Smith's book fills a very important niche, and the only reason I can imagine that it didn't find a publisher is that lots of people are like me in thinking that growing in transparency sounds more traumatic than helpful.
However, as one of those people, I can say that this book was revelatory. Smith has done thorough reading on the subject and collected so many insights from so many sources--from Brene Brown to Dietrich Bonhoeffer--into challenging and convicting chapters. The book uncovered some of the main idolatries that drive my hatred of vulnerability and made me WANT to fight them. Probably my biggest takeaway is that my wanting to be impressive is so harmful because it is an attempt to get people to pay attention to me--Shannon's way, Shannon's resume--rather than Christ (HIS way, HIS resume). I don't want to block people from their true hope with my paltry achievements.
Since I realized how much I hate feeling vulnerable in 2020, I have been looking for a Christian treatment of the subject. I enjoy Brene Brown's work but find her conclusions empty (I've only read book, and her observations were insightful but her solution of "I am enough" is a lie and totally unhelpful). The closest thing I've found till now is Andy Crouch's Strong and Weak, which was perceptive but ended up being more of a leadership book.
So Joseph Smith's book fills a very important niche, and the only reason I can imagine that it didn't find a publisher is that lots of people are like me in thinking that growing in transparency sounds more traumatic than helpful.
However, as one of those people, I can say that this book was revelatory. Smith has done thorough reading on the subject and collected so many insights from so many sources--from Brene Brown to Dietrich Bonhoeffer--into challenging and convicting chapters. The book uncovered some of the main idolatries that drive my hatred of vulnerability and made me WANT to fight them. Probably my biggest takeaway is that my wanting to be impressive is so harmful because it is an attempt to get people to pay attention to me--Shannon's way, Shannon's resume--rather than Christ (HIS way, HIS resume). I don't want to block people from their true hope with my paltry achievements.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews