Q: Why can't I know what happens in my local church? What happens behind closed doors at church board meetings, with clergy and lay leadership, is important to me. How can my local church be more transparent?

Perception is as important as reality. The church and its leaders need to appear transparent as well as be transparent because it builds trust and deters critics. Transparency in church finances builds donor confidence.

On the cruel night that Jesus was arrested He addressed the crowd, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me" (Matthew 26:55).

Members deserve similar confidence-building openness from their leaders.

They need to know that their church is being stewarded well. However, transparency is not about sharing the nitty-gritty details of every decision, but about being straightforward with the church family.

There are occasions when church leaders need to do business behind closed doors: legal issues, employment issues, abuse, immorality, and so on. Thankfully, these times are rare, and members should satisfy themselves by patiently praying for their leaders, but in a culture with a hyper-developed need to know, that is challenging. Usually, the church is excited to make its business public and circulate its good news. One New England pastor instructs the board, "Call all your friends and tell them everything that just happened in the board meeting."

Sometimes the planning phase of a visionary endeavor requires a period of healthy secrecy. I decided to propose to my wife four months before I actually did it. During that time I dreamed, prepared, bought a ring, consulted friends, and orchestrated details in order to properly present my vision of a wonderful life together. A visionary church board might also want to craft a presentation strategy, allowing God to lead the church into well-timed steps of faith.

Transparency in finances is essential. It is to the church's advantage to go above and beyond governmental mandates for financial disclosure. Simply use every financial gift effectively to change lives (make Christlike disciples) and then tell that story. A church budget is a plan to reverse the mess sin has made of people's lives. It ought to be in every member's hand.

Mark E. Lail is director of Stewardship Ministries for the Church of the Nazarene.

Holiness Today, May/June 2011

Please note: This article was originally published in 2011. All facts, figures, and titles were accurate to the best of our knowledge at that time but may have since changed.