Since I posted the first three parts of this series a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been working on a fourth post that addresses one of the biggest problems with programming for discipleship as I see it.

That problem is the difficulty of getting people to embrace transparency.

The third part of the series talked about the need for accountability relationships, either in one-on-one mentoring or in very small accountability groups.  In my experience, groups of this nature seldom work with more than five people.  Three or four, including the mentor / facilitator / leader, seems to me to be the perfect number.

In those tiny groups, the more transparent the members are with each other about their struggles and failures, the more powerful the move of the Holy Spirit to heal and transform.

The problem, of course, is that transparency is HARD.  Transparency is DANGEROUS.  It’s risky, because you are trusting that the person to whom you are confessing your struggles and failures will keep them confidential.

And that’s just in America.  In some cultures–Croatia, for example–transparency is even MORE difficult, even MORE risky.

So I’m working on a post (or a series of posts) that will describe both the benefits and the risks of transparency, explore some of the best practices for encouraging transparency in accountability relationships in church and parachurch settings.  Maybe Monday?