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For the past couple of days, I’ve lived in captivity of the glass domed mini-city that is the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville.  You may remember that last May, massive floods in Tennessee left part of the Opryland underwater.  After months of rebuilding and renovations the compound has reopened.

This is the fourth year I have been a guest of the Gaylord for work.  It’s interesting to see what’s changed because of flood damage and what parts have stayed the same.  I was chatting with an employee of the gift store as I was making a late night “I forgot my toothbrush” run and asked him about the water damage.  As we wrapped up our five minute conversation about the flood I told him that it was so great that the staff here is allowed to talk so openly about the disaster.  He told me it was refreshing for him, too.  He said it’s nice to share their experiences with guests, especially those who come here regularly because the guests deserved to know what happened.

What a great lesson in transparency.  I think the natural, knee-jerk reaction to a crisis is to hide it from the public—especially if you are a hotel.  Restaurants and guest rooms were flooded with nasty water.  It’s not something you want to put on the front page of your brochure.  But even during the flood, the hotel started showing images.  There were YouTube videos of Gaylord staff showing the disaster.  And while they were closed, doing the clean-up, the hotel released videos of the progress.  They were giving an honest view of what was going on.

So I think about churches who find themselves in crisis.  How many of them just close the doors and try to hide?  Now, it may be easy to read this and think, sure, if a flood or fire damages our church building we can show updates.  But I would challenge you to think about applying this principle to internal struggles within the congregation.  Being transparent with your church body about internal issues is important for membership retention and fostering buy-in.  Your church family already knows something is going on.  Be honest, be accountable and stop the gossip by getting in front of the issue.

I have a friend who ended up leaving a church, that is now on the verge of dying, because church leadership refused to address issues happening in the church.  Lots of people knew about them, but things were hidden as if they didn’t really exist.  What future success and opportunities did that church miss out on all because they wouldn’t be honest and transparent to the reality of what was happening?  A congregation is made up of people who have ownership in the church. Isn’t it better to strengthen those people who want to have buy-in to what the church is doing than to hide things from them?

My same friend is now church shopping.  He shared with me a conversation he had with a pastor of a church he recently visited.  In the course of the conversation, the pastor told him, “You know what, we’re not perfect, but we’re a work in progress.”  While my friend didn’t necessarily like everything about that church, he said it’s one he could see himself going to because of that honesty.

So my challenge to you is to think about how you can be more transparent not only to your own congregation, but your community, too.  If you’re hiding something, let it out and communicate with people.  Honest transparency will always trump the fakeness that comes from hiding things.