One of the greatest and most powerful “pieces” of currency in our social-technological world is transparency. Organizations and ministries have the unique opportunity to give people behind-the-scenes look into their ministries and how they do what they do. This can help connect and engage your audience faster and more easy than ever before.
Secular businesses have seen this dramatic shift in thinking for a while now but one of the things that plague the old mindset as they try to move into the new paradigm is the issue of competition. The question is: “What if I give too much detail into how my business is doing so that my competitors can leverage for their business?”
The nice thing about ministry is that our primary concern isn’t (or rather, shouldn’t be) competition but contextual effectiveness. Ultimately this is a great point for us as the global Church because we can share without fear and the results are globally beneficial.
Of course, there are a few businesses out there that are doing it differently and being as transparent as possible; I believe they are reaping the benefits of this new social economy that the old guard will never take advantage of.
One example is Woot.com, who releases data about their sales. That’s different thinking:
How is your ministry being transparent? Perhaps a parallel question might be: How is your ministry being authentic?
[Image from Reiven]
Jim says
That's a great question. The one thing that I love about this site is that the key questions are being asked daily. So when I'm out talking to churches and ministries, I'm talking to them about these same issues. You could write a college course on these principles.