At Origin Church, we have set out on a major mission to have in our DNA, a culture of transparency and authenticity; one that allows people to come as they are, honestly, not hiding any of the challenges they or we face, and being loved all the same.
Francis Chan wrote the following words, but I cannot improve upon them for me personally, and after 17 years as senior pastor, you should know that they ALL apply to me personally, so I want to share them with you, authentically: “Many of my sermons in the early days demonstrated my ability to manipulate people through guilt. Words like suffer, sacrifice and serve were used often; and it left people improperly burdened. The mentality of “suffer for Jesus since He suffered for you” can easily lead us to an arrogance and self-righteousness. It’s an attitude far from what God desires because it draws the attention to us and our sacrifices rather than Him. God reminds us in Acts 17:24-25 that He doesn’t need anything from us. In fact, all things come from Him. He is the only Giver. Most of my sermons on giving now have to do with the truth that we can never out-give God (Matt. 19:29). Our cheerfulness (2 Cor. 9:7) in giving comes from a true faith that we are more blessed when we give (Acts 20:35).”
Pretty amazing article he wrote and I would encourage you to read it all here.
