Few Baptists seem to practice our old adage, “Tell the truth and trust the people.” For example, too much church business goes on behind closed doors. How can our church balance operating on a need-to-know basis and making the truth easily accessible for any church member?
For reasons of polity and prudence, Baptists at their best operate on the axiom, “Tell the truth and trust the people.”
First, polity. Most Baptists follow a democratic form of church governance. Churches are autonomous, and church members determine the principles and practices by which their congregations operate. Church members, therefore, are stakeholders. They have a vote, or stake, in the decisions that direct their congregation’s ministry. As stakeholders, church members deserve truthful information.
Second, prudence. Informed people generally make wiser choices than people who lack information. Do all well-informed church members make prudent decisions? Of course not. But poorly informed people rarely make good decisions. Telling the truth and trusting the people tends to reduce suspicion inherent in organizations. It also raises the level of accountability necessary for successful leaders and institutions.
Baptist churches, however, must be careful what information they disclose and how they reveal it. All church business is not equal. Some church business does not need to be the business of every church member — and certainly not the general public.
Clergy, for example, should not share information obtained in counseling sessions or, for that matter, who comes to them for counseling. Clergy should be careful to get permission from members before reporting their hospitalizations or surgeries to the congregation.
An increasing percentage of Baptist churches require volunteers who work with children or youth to undergo criminal background checks and driving record checks prior to serving as teachers or chaperones. The results of these investigations should be reviewed by only one or two people and should be kept under lock and key.
Ministers and nonministerial staff are employees, and information about their employment, including salary, benefits and personnel reviews, should be reviewed by representative church members on behalf of the congregation. It is not necessary for everyone to know everything as long as some trusted and delegated members of the congregation know everything.
Electronic media have contributed to the prominence of the accessibility-of-information issue. The inclusion of a church member’s name on a prayer list can publicize his or her illness to the world via the Internet. Printing the pictorial church directory on a website gives away information that increases the opportunity for identity theft.
When in doubt, apply the Golden Rule: “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.”
Michael Clingenpeel is pastor of River Road Church, Baptist, in Richmond.
Right or Wrong? is sponsored by the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon School of Theology. Contributors include Baptists in Virginia, Texas, Missouri and other states. Send your questions about how to apply your faith to btillman@hsutx.edu.