Global Integrity 21

Christian Integrity 

Moral Wholeness for a Whole World

Integrity is moral wholeness—living consistently in moral wholeness. Its opposite is corruption, the distortion, perversion, and deterioration of moral goodness, resulting in the exploitation of people. Global integrity is moral wholeness at all levels in our world—from the individual to the institutional to the international. Global integrity is requisite for “building the future we want—being the people we need.” It is not easy, it is not always black and white, and it can be risky. These entries explore the many facets of integrity with a view towards the global efforts to promote sustainable development and wellbeing.

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Perspectives from the Lausanne Movement

Cape Town Commitment 2010

Let us strive for a culture of full integrity and transparency.
We will choose to walk in the light and truth of God,

for the Lord tests the heart and is pleased with integrity.

Part 2, IIE. 4

The Lausanne Movement is a major umbrella organization-network of Christians and Christian organizations that was formed over 40 years ago. It is evangelical in its orientation and “connects influencers and ideas for global mission, with a vision of the gospel for every person, an evangelical church for every people, Christ-like leaders for every church, and kingdom impact in every sphere of society.” More on its history here:https://www.lausanne.org/about-lausanne

This entry features excerpts from the Lausanne Movement’s Cape Town Commitment (2010). These excerpts call Christians to live with the highest levels of integrity and to resolutely prevent and confront corruption. They also emphasize the dire consequences to the credibility and witness of the church when Christians do not do so. The Movement has about 35 different “networks," with one of them being an “Integrity and Anti-Corruption Network.” This Network has convened meetings over the past few years with a major meeting planned in early 2017. 

PART ONE

7. We Love God’s World

“C.  Such love for the poor demands that we not only love mercy and deeds of compassion, but also that we do justice through exposing and opposing all that oppresses and exploits the poor. ‘We must not be afraid to denounce evil and injustice wherever they exist.’[30] We confess with shame that on this matter we fail to share God’s passion, fail to embody God’s love, fail to reflect God’s character and fail to do God’s will. We give ourselves afresh to the promotion of justice, including solidarity and advocacy on behalf of the marginalized and oppressed...”

9. We Love the People of God

“B) Love calls for honesty. Love speaks truth with grace. No one loved God’s people more than the prophets of Israel and Jesus himself. Yet no one confronted them more honestly with the truth of their failure, idolatry and rebellion against their covenant Lord. And in doing so, they called God’s people to repent, so that they could be forgiven and restored to the service of God’s mission. The same voice of prophetic love must be heard today, for the same reason. Our love for the Church of God aches with grief over the ugliness among us that so disfigures the face of our dear Lord Jesus Christ and hides his beauty from the world – the world that so desperately needs to be drawn to him.”

PART TWO

7. Truth and the Public Arenas

“B) Corruption is condemned in the Bible. It undermines economic development, distorts fair decision-making and destroys social cohesion. No nation is free of corruption. We invite Christians in the workplace, especially young entrepreneurs, to think creatively about how they can best stand against this scourge.”

IID. Discerning the will of Christ...

3. Christ-Centered Leaders

“The rapid growth of the Church in so many places remains shallow and vulnerable, partly because of the lack of discipled leaders, and partly because so many use their positions for worldly power, arrogant status or personal enrichment. As a result, God’s people suffer, Christ is dishonoured, and gospel mission is undermined…”

“B) We renew our commitment to pray for our leaders. We long that God would multiply, protect and encourage leaders who are biblically faithful and obedient. We pray that God would rebuke, remove, or bring to repentance leaders who dishonour his name and discredit the gospel. And we pray that God would raise up a new generation of discipled servant-leaders whose passion is above all else to know Christ and be like him.”

“C) Those of us who are in Christian leadership need to recognize our vulnerability and accept the gift of accountability within the body of Christ. We commend the practice of submitting to an accountability group.”

IIE. Calling the Church of Christ Back to Humility, Integrity and Simplicity

“B) Since there is no biblical mission without biblical living, we urgently re-commit ourselves, and challenge all those who profess the name of Christ, to live in radical distinctiveness from the ways of the world, to ‘put on the new humanity, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.’ “

1. Walk in Distinctiveness, as God’s New Humanity

“…The Bible shows that God’s greatest problem is not just with the nations of the world, but with the people he has created and called to be the means of blessing the nations….When there is no distinction in conduct between Christians and non-Christians – for example in the practice of corruption and greed, or sexual promiscuity, or rate of divorce, or relapse to pre-Christian religious practice, or attitudes towards people of other races, or consumerist lifestyles, or social prejudice – then the world is right to wonder if our Christianity makes any difference at all. Our message carries no authenticity to a watching world.”

4. Walk in Integrity, Rejecting the Idolatry of Success

"We cannot build the kingdom of the God of truth on foundations of dishonesty. Yet in our craving for ‘success’ and ‘results’ we are tempted to sacrifice our integrity...Let us strive for a culture of full integrity and transparency. We will choose to walk in the light and truth of God, for the Lord tests the heart and is pleased with integrity."

Applications

--The Cape Town Commitment points out in many places the failure of the church, Christians, and Christian leaders to act with integrity. Give a specific, recent example of how this has happened and the consequences.
--How would you desicribe the components of "a full culture of integrity" as emphasized in the final excerpt above? List a few practical ways to help foster this culture.

MC and Global Health—4

World Health Assembly, Post Conference:

Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA)

13 June 2012, after the IASC event on PSEA at the UN in Geneva.

“It was powerful, relevant, disturbing, and sicko.”

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The only thing needed for evil to prosper is for good people to do nothing...

or to do some ‘thing’ and then to move on.

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Life continues after the many conferences that we all attend. The post-conference challenge is to get back into ones usual work and to implement all of the commitments and plans that one makes while gathered together. This post-conference challenge is true for us after having attended parts of the remarkable 65th World Health Assembly (WHA) held at the UN in Geneva.

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Not surprisingly, we were back at the UN in early June. We attended a three-hour event sponsored by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC, a major coordinator for humanitarian assistance). The topic was the Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA), emphasizing the IASC member organizations’ efforts to deal with this reality (SEA) in their operations. Many thanks to the ISAC for all their hard work to organize this event! We were warned that it would likely be disturbing, and judging by the looks on our faces after the event (as in the photo above--hard to really smile), the warning was accurate!

The event featured the screening of the movie, The Whistleblower. This movie is “based on the experiences of Kathryn Bolkovac, a Nebraska cop who served as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia and outed the U.N. for covering up a sex scandal.” Bolkovac, played by Rachel Weisz, “finds herself confronting a 'dangerous reality of corruption, cover-up and intrigue amid a world of private contractors and multinational diplomatic double-talk'. A fictionalised account inspired by actual events, the movie deals with issues both real and abhorrent: human trafficking, violence against women and cross-border organised crime. United Nations peacekeepers and staff are portrayed as turning a blindeye to, or worse, actually being complicit in these crimes.”  The Whistleblower premiered in September 2010 at the Toronto International Film Festival. Click here for the movie trailer.

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What Happened?

The IASC event was moderated by Arafat Jamal, Chief, IASC Secretariat, with some very sobering and informative opening remarks by Mr. William Lacey Swing, the Director General of the International Organisation for Migration (who oversaw the UN peacekeeping effort in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2003-2007 when major sexual scandals were surfacing that nearly crippled the UN’s operations there).

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Four panelists actively involved in the humanitarian sector responded to the movie. In addition, Madeleine Rees contributed many helpful insights, the former human rights lawyer in Bosnia who was played in the movie by Vanessa Redgrave.  They all poignantly discussed issues raised in the film as well as current initiatives to strengthen PSEA, especially organizational, leadership and individual responsibility. Participants also contributed through the engaging time of discussion. The panelists:

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Ms. Beris Gwynne, Director World Vision Geneva, Leader for Global Accountability 

Ms. Marie Elseroad, International Medical Corps, Co-Chair of the IASC Task Force on PSEA

Mr. Ngonlardje-Kabra Mbaidjol, UNHCR Director Ethics

Ms. Lauren Landis, Director WFP Geneva, WFP Senior Focal Point on PSEA

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Some key comments and some take-aways (from movie and presenters):

If we don’t do PSEA well then it will negatively affect all that we do.

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 In addition to the negative impact on victims, SEA seriously demoralizes staff, undermines our humanitarian strategies, and dishonors our organizations.

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 PSEA in differnt forms exists in places where there are peacekeepers (e.g., food for sex and human traafficking).   It  is not just in the more publicized places (West Africa, DRC, Bosia). The protectors become the predators.

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We need to mobilize more courageous leadership on this issue.

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We need role models who are beyond reproach.

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A major challenge is confronting the organizational architecture of impunity.

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We need safe places for honest conversations.

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Our organization is dealing with this issue---top-down, bottom-up, and end to end.

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 There are no exceptions, no excuses, and high behavioral expectations for our staff.

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 Staff need to understand that it is “cool” to be “good.”

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 We need sustained commitment for PSEA and to maintain momentum in the face of so many other humanitarian and organizational demands.

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Unless you go public, the darkness will never see the light of day.

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To date, there has been no prosecutions of the people involved in the events depicted in this movie.

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 End of movie comment by Kathryn Bolkovac:

I would do it again [whistleblow to protect vulnerable people in spite of grave risks/consequences]. Yes, without a doubt.

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Updates on PSEA in the UN and Related Personnel

1. The Senior IASC Focal Points.

At their December 2011 IASC Principals meeting, IOM agreed to facilitate an initiative to provide new momentum to addressing the issue of PSEA within IASC organizations. Under the leadership of the IOM Director-General, each IASC organization has nominated senior PSEA Focal Points which met to discuss progress in addressing PSEA within their respective organizations.

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2. The IASC Task Force on PSEA

The IASC Task Force is the venue for collaboration among all IASC members (UN, NGO, IOM and International Federation of the Red Cross/Red Crescent) with objectives to strengthen leadership, support field offices and assist agencies in incorporating PSEA based strategies.  The objectives of the IASC Task Force are:

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 Some Applications for Mission/Aid and Member Care

1. Don’t think that this stuff cannot happen in mission/aid —that is, having to deal with all types of corruption such as SEA, and including confronting leaders, organizational culture, and unethical and illegal practices, as well as whistleblowers (leaders, staff ,and external folks) committed to the core values of an organization experiencing the consequences of such confrontation.

2. One example, similar to this movie, more on the extreme end of the corruption and confrontation continuum, is the movie All God’s Children (2008). "Through the eyes of three families, All God’s Children tells the personal story of the first boarding school for children of missionaries to be investigated for abuse at the hands of the parents’ missionary colleagues [in Mamou, Guinea, run by the Christian and Missionary Alliance]. The survivors and parents share their journey of seeking justice, redemption and healing. Through the eyes of three families…Cut off from their families for 9 months out of the year and without any reliable means of communication, the children quietly suffered emotional, spiritual, physical and/or sexual abuse at the hands of the all-missionary staff. It took the children decades to acknowledge the effects the abuses had on their lives. When they finally dared to break the silence and speak out, the Church denied all allegations and refused to help. But through years of persistent activism the survivors and their parents finally compelled the Christian and Missionary Alliance to conduct an investigation and acknowledge the abuses. The healing could begin. The investigation of the Mamou Alliance Academy was the first of its kind but has since inspired investigations at other schools of many different denominations” (description from the website). Click here to watch the movie trailer; Click here to watch the movie (free online).

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3. We cannot help but think of the current and protracted case regarding the international NCI fraud, characterized by the abuse of trust, stealing millions of dollars, cover ups and wrongful dismissals by major organizations, attempted impunity, and large scale apathy to do anything about it in the international church and mission community (CMC), primarily the Evangelical CMC. Sadly, these types of experiences are more prevalent than acknowledged and are NOT simply on the extreme end of the corruption and confrontation continuum. For more information visit the PETRA People website, the PETRA People weblog, and the PETRA People petition site (Shine the Light—Together).

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More Info and Resources

1. PSEA Tools and Updates

2. Keeping Children Safe Coalition provides free online resources and training materials (Toolkit) for organizations working with children as well as the children of staff (the video enactments in the Toolkit are especially helpful).

3. MCA Resource Update on Member Character (July 2012) including the link to quotes related to character and organizational health from the book Transparency: How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor.

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Reflection and Discussion

**Describe a few applications for MC as a field, for your organization, and for yourself, based on the items/commentary above.

MC: Global Letters for a Global Community--7

Seeing the Light

You are the fountain of life.

In Your light we see light.

Psalm 36:9

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We are writing to member care workers and all those with member care responsibility within international mission/aid who identify with the historic Christian faith. We write to encourage us all to stay the course in our service to God and humans and to take full advantage of the many opportunities to provide and develop member care. We write fully aware of the problems that can discredit, divide, and disable the church-mission community (CMC) and all of our member care efforts. We write with a commitment to the love that is necessary to resolve these problems and to promote health within the CMC.

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We have just signed a petition:  Shine the Light—Together! We signed it because we care very much about how an international fraud, NCI KB, has seriously affected the public, charities, and especially the church-mission community—including the Evangelical member care community. This petition is an international call for integrity and action---for transparent and verifiable disclosures from individuals, projects, and organizations affected by this fraud.  

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 The petition has a brief update about the fraud with links to core documents for more information. The initial case went all the way to the Swedish Supreme court which upheld the previous verdicts of NCI being an ongoing gross fraud. NCI was largely an affinity fraud with one of the main organizations affected—people and projects--being Youth With A Mission. Note that this petition does not implicate any person or organization. Rather it calls for a positive and ethical response by people and organizations in order to help turn around this fraud.

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Would you seriously consider rallying with others internationally and signing the petition? And then sharing it with others?  Important efforts like this succeed as we get more informed and in solidarity spread the word (email, Facebook, etc.).  The comments of the signatories so far are also quite powerful to read, many of them who have been tracking with this fraud since NCI was publicly confronted in 2007.

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Thank you very much for your support, especially on behalf of the church-mission and member care community. To read and sign the petition, please click here:

 http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/shine-the-light-together/
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Kelly and Michèle

MC: Global Letters for a Global Community--6

A Birthday Wish

We are writing to member care workers and all those with member care responsibility within international mission/aid who identify with the historic Christian faith. We write to encourage us all to stay the course in our service to God and humans and to take full advantage of the many opportunities to provide and develop member care. We write fully aware of the problems that can discredit, divide, and disable the church-mission community (CMC) and all of our member care efforts. We write with a commitment to the love that is necessary to resolve these problems and to promote health within the CMC.

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I was born in 1956. And today I am 56 years old.

It’s great to be alive! The photo above is me, Kelly.

Circa 1956 in California.

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So it’s my birthday and I have a special wish: for truth and peace to prevail in the Evangelical mission and member care community (Zech. 8:19). May the long-standing requests to meet with leaders be honoured--and for everybody concerned to do so with transparency, accountability, and courage. May healing light shine on the long-standing malaise. May we truly persevere in loving one another as Jesus Christ has loved us.

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So what are we waiting for?

Meeting would be a great gift—for everybody.

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Kelly for Michèle too

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PS  “Everybody….heals with love.” (Ingrid Michaelson) Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=438HDK6IVmU&feature=related

Member Care and Transparency—Part 6, Summary

Developmental Musings on Living Shalom

Transparency involves sharing truth wisely.

It builds trust and promotes true peace—shalom (שָׁלוֹם).

Shalom is what we yearn for in member care and in life:
“holistic well-being for all."

Speak the truth to one another

and judge truthfully so that there will be shalom

…therefore love truth and shalom (Zechariah 8:16,19).

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We love these wise words above from Zechariah, the 6th century BC Jewish prophet. They are core guidelines for us. Call us on skype sometime, for example, and you will see these words pop up by our profile: "Love both truth and peace." But more importantly, we want these words to be permanently engraved on the profiles of our hearts. May they guide you and all of us now into the personal integrity and relational health that are needed to truly do member care well. Live shalom.

Summary Principles: 12 Thoughts on Transparency

**Transparency is developed throughout our lives and especially influenced by our parents and other role models.

**Transparency is part of our core being and is part of a lifestyle of integrity.

**Transparency is a commitment to honesty with ourselves and others.

** Transparency builds trust and trust builds relationships.

**Transparency involves having the courage to admit errors and wrong actions.

**Transparency involves having the courage to compassionately confront others.

**Transparency is a core part of accountability, both personally and organizationally.

**Transparency is the responsibility of both leaders and staff in organizations.

**Transparency is modeled by leaders who share information, self-disclose, and invite honest feedback.

**Transparency requires prudence to determine how much, when, and with whom to openly share.

**Transparency requires risk, and taking risks is often part of acting ethically.

**Transparency promotes holistic well-being for all.

Transparency and Friends
The photo below is a bit unusual for sure. These folks are 12 special little “buddies” in our office. Can you find them all? Perhaps you have some similar things in your office? (smile)

                                 

For example, there's the Gingerbread Boy home-made in France, a Limber Jack from Vermont USA, Gumby the animation celebrity with klompen shoes from The Netherlands, a subdued Pinoccio from a Roman vendor, Tony the Tiger of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes fame wearing an American football helmet and heroically brandishing a sword, a Hongkongese rooster, a medievel knight on his trusted three-legged steed, and even a little green shamrock sprouting arms and legs.

These wee folks come from all over the world and mostly from places where we have lived or worked. They are daily reminders of some great human friends we are privleged to have across the globe--people with whom mutual transparency and holistic well-being are central parts of our relationship. And I guess now these 12 buddies in our office will also be reminders of the 12 principles of transparency summarized above.

Transparency—The Book

Here is a final set of quotes from Bennis et al in Transparency: How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor (2006). This is a timely book to further instruct all of us in the mission/aid and member care community.

"Leaders need to question their willingness to hear certain voices and not others. They need to make a habit of second-guessing their enthusiasms as well as their antipathies, since both can cloud their judgment." (p. 27)

“…Leaders demonstrate their respect by giving followers relevant information, by never using or manipulating them, and by including them in the making of decisions that affect them.…That’s why the failure to include people is the second-most common source of mistrust, close behind the failure of leaders to tell the truth consistently…To renege on one’s word may seem necessary to some leaders, but in the eyes of followers it is a betrayal of trust...In essence, trust is hard to earn, easy to lose, and, once lost, nearly impossible to regain.” (p. 63)

"….three requisite steps for the exercise of integrity [from Yale law professor Stephen Carter]: 1. Discerning what is right and what is wrong; 2. Acting on what you have discerned, even at personal cost; 3. Saying openly that you are acting on your understanding of right and wrong." (p. 72)

Reflection and Discussion

1. Which of the above 12 summary thoughts on transparency are the most relevant for you now?

2. Are there additional thoughts (principles) that you would like to add to this list?

3. Who are you true friends with whom you can be mutually transparent?

4. Transparency is part of integrity. It can be risky. Give an example, especially in light of the final quote from Bennis et al (quoting Stephen Carter on integrity).

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Note: Here is little treat for you who have read through all of these six entries. Turn up the volume and enjoy! It’s a six minute clip from Paul McCartney’s 2008 concert in Quebec. C’est très bon et très cool! The last two minutes are especially relevant. Live shalom!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thecXP_0eVc

Member Care and Transparency—Part 5

Developmental Musings on Breaching Walls

The Berlin Wall was begun in 1961.

It was a transparent and ominous reminder

of the dangerous ideological and relational malaise

that divided large parts of humanity.

We in the mission/aid and member care community

can learn much from the erecting and dismantling

of this monolithic travesty.

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Where were you on 9 November 1989? We were in our home in Haarlem, The Netherlands, transfixed to the BBC and Dutch live broadcasts on our television. For those of us born into the era of the East-West debacle, the dismantling of the Berlin Wall that began that night was one of the most explicit signs that the seemingly intransigent barriers of the cold war were crumbling—politically, relationally, and now physically. Simply phenomenal!

A few days ago we watched the 20th anniversary celebrations of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The main celbrations took place, appropriately, in Berlin. Our feelings were mixed and running deep—like two ethereal inner streams mingling both present delight and past sorrow. The celebrations were somber, public, international, and historic reminders of how humans and nations get stuck in perilous mire. They were also encouraging reminders that we can in fact get unstuck although not without courageous perseverance and not without a high cost.

Search on Google and you will quickly find a plentiful array of videos and stories about the Berlin Wall and the recent celebrations in Berlin. Here is a brief video/link that highlights the celebrations. It has excerpts from speeches by Gordon Brown (UK Prime Minister), Hillary Clinton (US Secretary of State), and Angela Merkel (German Chancellor). http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8349742.stm The major news for us though was not simply the breached and falling wall. Rather the major news was what it took to get the wall to fall and the far broader reality reflected by this dismantled divider.

Applications to Member Care

When stand-offs, debacles, mire, and barriers exist in the core relationships of people with whom we are working, or in our own relationships, what do we do? I think we all wonder at times how we can better dismantle these relational obstructions, especially the more injurious and lethal types. Yet then again, unlike the Berlin Wall, perhaps some of these walls exist for an appropriate, protective purpose. Their healthy presence helps to safeguard vulnerable people from personal and organizational realities that can only be described as dysfunctional and deviant.

It takes courage, perseverance, skill, and lots of support to deal with the reasons behind our relational walls. Using the materials taught in the one-week intensive course, Sharpening Your Interpersonal Skills, can be a great place to start (http://www.itpartners.org/). For more complicated and resistant walls, professional mediation over several days may prove helpful. In cases where dysfunction and deviance are involved, some very special approaches are needed (e.g., see the 10 summary principles listed in Wise Doves and Innocent Serpents; http://mcaresources.googlepages.com/realitydose).

The above photo was taken today in our office. We are holding a piece of the Berlin Wall given to us years ago by a German friend/psychiatrist. This photo reflects our commitment to relate transparently with others and together seek to understand, breach, and if possible dismantle walls. This piece of the wall is a regular reminder to us of Christ’s exhortations for courageous transparency: "Don't be intimidated. Eventually everything is going to be out in the open, and everyone will know how things really are. So don't hesitate to go public now.” (Matthew 10 26-27 The Message)

Transparency—The Book

Consider the above thoughts in light of this next set of quotes from Bennis et al in Transparency: How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor (2006). To use the “wall” metaphor from this weblog entry, these quotes focus more on the darker side of why walls exist: namely consistent unhealthy personal or organizational practices such as feigned openness, excessive ambition, groupthink, and injustice. As shared in the previous entries, we think it is timely for this book to get into the hands and practice of all of us in the mission/aid and member care community.

“No matter the official line, true transparency is rare. Many organizations pay lip service to values of openness and candor, even writing their commitment into mission statements. Too often they are hollow…and inspire frustration, even cynicism, in followers all too aware of very different organizational reality.” (p. 4)

“Groupthink-driven decisions are the downside of a dynamic every organization seeks to build: group cohesiveness and pride in belonging. The paradox here is that the very cohesiveness that can make such tight-knit groups highly effective can shade over into a clubby sense of entitlement and superiority. This can lead members to believe that the group can do no wrong—that stretching rules to achieve its goals is, for them, permissible.” (p. 40)

“[Aristotle] goes on to say that there are times when anger is called for and appropriate. In fact, if one does not become angry over a grave injustice, he says, one cannot be considered virtuous.” (p. 76)

Reflection and Discussion

1. Think of a couple relational walls in your life right now. Try to give a specific name/title to these walls.

2. If the walls could talk to you about why they exist what would they say? If the walls could give you advice about how to breach them, what would they say?

3. Which of the above quotes by Bennis et al on transparency are the most relevant for you right now?

4. We have regular candid discussions with confidants about the walls that exist in the mission/aid and member care community. The importance of developing our “relational resiliency” is constantly emphasized. Such resiliency is fostered by seeking mutual transparency and accountability with meekness, skill, and resolve. What do you think? Feel free to leave a comment below on the weblog.

Member Care and Transparency—Part 4

Developmental Musings on Blowing Whistles

Whistle blowing is a difficult and risky aspect of transparency.

It takes moral courage, skill, and support.

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Whistle blowing is a term taken from the sports world. A referee overseeing a game will blow a whistle when some type of wrong behavior (breaking the rules) is committed by a player or even by a coach. The game is temporarily stopped when the whistle blows. The infraction is pointed out clearly and “publically” to all the participants. There is usually a consequence—a penalty.

One example of a misbehavior meriting a referee’s whistle would be intentionally or accidentally kicking someone in a football match. Another example would be intentionally or accidentally pushing someone down during a basketball game. Still other examples would be the far more minor violations like being off sides in a football match or dribbling the basketball with both hands at the same time.

Referees can blow whistles without fear of reprisal because they have recognized and legitimate authority to do so. Their job is to enforce the rules and ensure fair play. Staff in organizations on the other hand, do not usually have the authority of a referee. Neither do staff usually have a set of rules (recognized organizational guidelines) regarding how to do whistle blowing and handle grievances. They can thus be reticent to query/challenge possible misbehaviors and if they do so they may be vulnerable to reprisals. The same applies, as well, to leaders in many organizations. Could such reprisals happen in faith-based organizations and others that espouse good relationships, justice, compassion, and high ethical values? Well, quite possibly!

Whistle blowing in organizational settings can include lots of things. It might mean an employee talking to a supervisor about someone’s inappropriate sexual comments or relentless teasing of others. It could be confronting a leadership team that is withholding information about environmental damage or undisclosed political contributions related to the organization’s activities. Or it could entail filing a formal complaint with the governing board or an external regulatory or police body about possible inappropriate allocation of funds. Whistle blowing serves as a protective function. It is a call for transparency and accountability.

Moral Courage and Moral Cowardice, with Lots In-Between

Let’s imagine that there were some major international frauds in the faith-based sector. Many people were devastated by them. What would people in the sector do who heard about the frauds? Would they inquire more about the frauds and confront the frauds in spite of possible negative consequences? What if there was very little response in terms of transparency and accountability by people who had been involved or affected? Is it OK then to just let things be and to move on? What if the situation malignantly spread to also involve various overlapping issues including discrediting, wrongful dismissals, cover ups, and other injustices? How involved would people likely become in order to do something about it? What would you do? Or what would you want if you were one of the victims?

Note that there have in fact been numerous financial scandals that have affected the faith based sector. This year, 2009, for example, marks the 20th anniversary of the start of the New Era scandal in the USA. As you will see in the staggering information linked below, fraudsters in the more recent news like Bernie Madoff certainly have had their predecessors in people like New Era’s John Bennett who embezzled some 135 Million US dollars from over 1000 donors in the Christian charities and organizations.

Thank goodness for the courage, determination, and research of whistle blowing people like Harry Markopolis and Albert Meyer. Markopolis was a financial analyst who “chased” Madoff for some nine years and Meyer was an accounting teacher who insisted that Bennett’s scheme was fraudulent. In spite of being ignored or opposed by others (especially people/institutions benefiting from these “amazing and benevolent” profit-making investments), their ethical commitment to confront wrongdoing and to protect others continued to impel them to take a stand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Madoff

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_for_New_Era_Philanthropy

Fortunately in major situations like this the details usually go public in due course. The concerted voices from the citizen sector, often with support from people of influence, usually win the day. Government investigators/agencies begin to investigate then prosecute and the international media carry the story. The wheels of justice turn slowly yet the state ultimately does not wield the sword in vain upon those who practice evil (Romans 13: 4).

What could we learn from such situations in the faith-based sector? First we probably have to acknowledge that we may not in fact have learned very much from previous history. We continue to be vulnerable to unscrupulous people who we “trust” and of whom we find it difficult to believe that they could intentionally dupe others and cover up. So we would have to be transparent about the reality that these things do in fact happen, even as the New Testament, business sector, governments, and history warn us over and over again. (See the weblog post from 6 November 2008 for example on New Testament warnings. Go to this internal link and then scroll down to the date: http://coremembercare.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-02-18T21%3A06%3A00Z&max-results=25).

Second we would need to acknowledge our limitations, mistakes, and fears in addition to what we have done well. How have we responded and why? Have we acted with moral courage or have we acted with moral cowardice, or something in-between? In other words we would have to be willing to openly review the specific fraud situations and how they have been handled. We would have to minimize rationalizations and making excuses for not confronting those who are guilty or getting more involved to protect vulnerable people. This individual and group commitment to soul-searching, including doing external independent reviews and internal “morbidity and mortality” consultations, would be one of the best safeguards for preventing similar injustices in the future in which people and organizations get exploited and damaged.

For some related thoughts on fostering organizational health and for dealing with serious deviance and dysfunction, see the article and links at the Reality DOSE web site (link is below). This material goes along well with the recent research by Transparency International et al on Preventing Corruption in Humanitarian Assistance. See the link below for the research report, especially the two-page "Executive Summary". By and large the mission and humanitarian sector, for all our admirable and exemplary qualities, can be vulnerable, naïve, and lack the basic training and recognized protocols to report and deal with serious misconduct.
http://MCAresources.googlepages.com/realitydose

http://transparency.org/publications/publications/other/humanitarian_assistance_report_2008

God is Pro-Transparency

The main actor in situations where there is serious injustice and a paucity of transparency/accountability would seem to be God Himself. He truly hears the cries of the afflicted. He really hears the whistles blowing loud and clear. He Himself will be transparent about the truth even if people are not. Psalm 37 is very instructive here. The promises in this Psalm on the part of God are encouraging and substantial. Here are some excerpts that can be of much help to anyone who is struggling with life’s injustices.

“Do not fret because of evil doers…
they will wither quickly like the grass.

Trust in the Lord and do good…commit your way to the Lord.

He will bring forth your righteousness as the light
and your judgment as the noonday.

For the Lord loves justice and does not forsake His godly ones.

He delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in Him.”

Transparency—The Book

Consider carefully this next set of quotes from Bennis et al in Transparency: How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor (2006). I think that this is a timely book for all of us in member care and mission/aid. Remember too that it is not just about the “them” out there somewhere or the “bad” people in our midst. It relates to all of us.

“But legislation alone [the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the USA] cannot make organizations open and healthy. Only the character and will of those who run them and participate in them can do that….If a culture of collusion exists instead of a culture of candor, participants will find ways around the rules, new or old, however stringent.” (p. 8)

…Glazer's study revealed that they [whistleblowers] almost always found the courage to speak out in their deep commitment to the core values of the organization. Even when labeled traitors by their colleagues, such tellers of unsettling truths often feel passionate loyalty to the organization and act because they feel the secret activity violates its mission and ethical core.” (10)

“The charge of disloyalty is as easy for leaders to bring against followers as it is difficult for the accused to counter and disprove. Moreover, as loyalty is typically an admirable trait, it is also a convenient blind for cowardly followers to hide behind.” (p. 79)

For more information on whistle blowing see the helpful suggested policy/white paper on the web site of the Evangelical Council for Finacial Accountability (ECFA):

http://www.ecfa.org/TopicDisplay.aspx?PageName=TopicPolicy_SuspectedMisconduct

For some additional perspectives on fraud in Christian circles, see the June 2009 article "Popping the Fraud Bubble" and related links in the magazine Christianity Today.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/june/4.14.html?start=1#related

Reflection and Discussion

1. Recall a time when you blew a whistle. What was it like and what happened?

2. What protocols exist in your organization for grievances and whistle blowing? How adequate are these protocols?

3. List three thoughts from Bennis et al that make the most sense to you. How can you apply these in your setting?

4. Respond to this statement and give an example: Often times there is not a need for more light to shine. Rather the need is to act upon the light that is already clearly shining.

Member Care and Transparency—Part 3

Developmental Musings on Parenting Truth

Parenting truth?

By this I mean that parents instruct and influence their children
about how to tell the truth.

It's about how kid's and all of us develop and internalize
the virtue of being honest.

*****

I remember when I was about 15 years old. I was practicing backing the new car out of our garage in California. The car was actually a dealer car from my father’s Buick-Opel franchise. It was pretty fun having a dad who owned a car dealership. The possibility of driving lots of new cars was really exciting to me! The photo above was taken about a year later than this actual story, in June 1972, at the car dealership. This is my family. I was the fourth oldest and the third youngest.

OK. Back to backing out of the garage. I was doing this for the first time, all by myself, with my mother’s permission, fairly confident that I could do it. I was pretty much in awe to be able to drive, even if it were only for a few feet! I had begun to tackle the first stages of this developmental milestone—becoming more independent by learning how to transport myself hither and yon with the help of an internal combustion engine.

Apparently at age 15 I did not know how to back out of garages very well, as I was soon to learn. The front side of our shiny Buick station wagon hit the brick wall of the garage. This unexpected event resulted in a conspicuous dent in the car, a chunk of brick chipping off the garage wall, and a near state of panic on my part. What was I to do?

The standard tapes started to play in my mind. If I told my mom she would be angry and I would get into trouble. It would also show her and the rest of my family that I was not mature and skilled enough to drive yet. But above all, it would remind me of a spectre in my past. It was a fiasco from six years previously when I managed to crash a new family station wagon into a tree at the bottom of the hill on our street. Don’t ask. Fortunately no one was injured. But I really felt stupid, and ashamed, and scared. Anyway, back to age 15 and to the same painful feelings that were stirring deep within. What was I to do?

Well, I ended up taking the higher ethical road. I told my mom about what had happened. But only after I had taken the lower ethical road first: I clumsily glued the brick chunk back to the wall and let my mom take the car out for a drive for a day or two in hopes that she would think that the car got dented by some other vehicle (by some unscrupulous person that would not tell her of his/her driving error) while it was parked in some parking lot.

Two days later, my mom did in fact notice the dent. Somehow she just seemed to know intuitively that the dent was not due to some other vehicle or person. It was due to me. Parents seem to not only have extra eyes on the backs of their heads but special eyes that can peer into the soul. And so my mom simply asked me if I was responsible for the dent. And frankly, I am so glad she asked me because I was just swarming in guilt about how I had tried to cover up. It was such a relief to be gently confronted and to tell her the whole story and even how I tried to glue the brick back to the wall in order to disguise the scene of the crime.

I remember my mothers calm, corrective attitude. I remember her not minimizing my mistake nor the far greater mistake (sin) of covering up my mistake. I appreciate how my mother dealt with the situation and how she dealt with me. She was parenting the truth.

Trans-Transparency:
Non-Selective Honesty with Self, Others, and God

Transparency begins by peering into our own souls. Such self-scrutinizing, especially for those with member care responsibility, is to be built into our lifestyle. It is self-honesty. It is reinforced by relationships with confidants to whom we give permission to peer into our lives. And we learn it from our parents and the significant adults in our lives as we grow up, and as they model honesty to us.

Transparency also involves God in a big way. God desires that we acknowledge reality—truth—in our core being (Psalm 51:6). We entreat God to help us be transparent—to search us and know our hearts (Psalm 139:26). The search for transparency, truth, self-honesty is especially important given the fact that our own hearts, like those of all humans, are deceitful and even desperately sick (Jeremiah 17:9 ).

One other thing I have learned over the years. We usually think we are far more transparent and accountable than we actually are. A corollary to this is we believe we are acting with far more integrity and honesty than we actually may be. Still another corollary is that sometimes we are only transparent and honest when we have to be and/or after a wrong behaviour or mistake is discovered. This is why we need the light of God and others in our lives. So we must trust ourselves but at the same time not entirely so.

Transparency—The Book

Consider this next quote from Bennis et al in Transparency: How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor (2006). As I shared in the previous entry, if there were a book I would recommend right now to colleagues in member care and mission/aid it would be this one. Especially the first chapter. Read and discuss and apply it! Remember, it is not just about “them.” It is about all of us.

"The best way for leaders to start information flowing freely in their organizations is to set a good example. They must accept, even welcome, unsettling information. If leaders regularly demonstrate that they want to hear more than incessant happy talk, and praise those with the courage to articulate unpleasant truths, then the norm will begin to shift toward transparency. Transparency is one evidence of an organization's moral health." (p. 42)

Reflection and Discussion

1. Think of a time when you made a mistake and tried to cover it up? What did you feel inside, what did you do, and what did others do?

2. Is there something currently that you need to be transparent about?

3. How much transparency is appropriate and with whom are we transparent?

4. Find a few ways that the above quotes from Bennis et al apply to your life and work setting.

Member Care and Transparency—Part 2

Developmental Musings on Being Honest

After university I joined a mission organization as a volunteer.

I was 21 years old. This was nearly one-third of a century ago!

I worked in Mexico on a project to distribute Scripture for free.

 We also did practical work to help folks in the local communities.

*****

Arriba Mexico!

The project was birthed in 1977 following a disastrous hurricane that struck the area around La Paz on the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. Many volunteers from many countries arrived soon after to help hurricane victims who had lost their homes.

Shortly afterwards and stimulated by the experiences in La Paz, small teams of volunteers from different American and Mexican communities began to work together on what was called Bibles for Mexico. Collectively the many sort-teams teams went village to village, city to city, systematically giving free Bibles and seeing how they could help in practical ways. The goal was to give a free Bible to every home in Mexico, not just in Baja California (one of the 31 states of Mexico).

I joined this project a few months after the La Paz hurricane, in late 1977. We made it a point to mingle and work with the local community. We did things like clothing distribution, played sports with the kids, performed street theatre, and attended/did services at the churches.

Ensenada, Baja California Norte, Mexico--August 1978

It took eight years to cover the entire nine hundred mile span of the Baja California peninsula with free Bibles. The scale of the outreaches ranged from working in the large cities of Tijuana and Mexicali in the north to the many small villages scattered throughout the state.  We actually ended up giving out just the New Testament and in a version that was acceptable to both Roman Catholics and Protestants in Mexico (Dios Llega al Hombre--Good News for Modern Man). It took many teams and many years. But we did it. Together.

One of the amazing things for me in retrospect was that I was able to participate in this extensive project esentially as a volunteer working part-time while I was attending graduate school full-time. I was living and studying in Southern California and was two hours by car from the Baja border. So access to Mexico was pretty easy. Much of the work seemd to be on a learn-by doing basis in consultation with others, especially Mexicans. And there were lots of prayer and encouragement too to support our efforts. I ended up helping to organize and/or being responsible for some 40 outreaches. I could sure tell stories—but some other time!

These were some of my first sustained cross-cultural experiences. I learned so much about the many different types of people in Mexico and my own cultural influences. My Spanish improved of course, and I saw first- hand how God could use all of our strengths and limitations to help others, if we would trust Him and commit to work together. The many lessons, memories, and special people are embedded in my soul. This time was foundational for my future work and responsibilities in member care. These early developmental years in cross-cultural ministry were just so, so special!

*****

Hurray for Honesty!

One of the main items that impacted me in my early 20s in Mexico was a statement written on the small sticker that you see at the top of this weblog entry. Don’t gloss over these powerful words. We put this sticker on the front page of many of the Bibles that we were giving out. Thousands and thousands of them. It is both a declaration and a warning. As you can probably tell, it means:

“Only the dishonest fear the truth.”

This somber sticker reminds me of our topic of transparency. I still ask myself, in what ways might I be afraid of the truth? The truth about my weaknesses or ways that I have been wrong and need to make amends. We all need to do this. "Who can say, 'I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin.' " (Proverbs 20:9).

Courage to Act Responsibly

Currently there is major concern about the need for greater transparency and accountability in the business world and in Christian ministry. This concern is very welcome. It is well past the time to upgrade our ways in the faith-based sector in these crucial areas.

We may all want to take the lower ethical road and avoid transparency and accountability. We usually do so out of fear of negative consequences, self-interest,  and other reasons which can be rationalized and presented as being reasonable or virtuous. It is such a sad day when this happens in the faith-based sector. It just creates more wounds for the already wounded Body of Christ.

So  I wonder: who among us will act with honesty even if there are negative consequences? Who has the courage to take the higher ethical road of not covering up? "He who conceals a transgresson will not prosper but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion." (Proverbs 28:13)

Or what do we actually do when we are aware that there is strong evidence of major organizational misconduct, dysfunction, deviance, and things like covering up serious fiscal impropriety? Perhaps we simply look the other way in hopes that someone else will deal with it. Or we say to ourselves that we must be mistaken or should mind our own business because our leaders and our organizations would never act this way or permit such things to happen. Well, think again. But just don't ratinalize away reality or our responsibilities.

We need courage to take responsibility, to confront, to call for honesty (transparency and accountability) . We must not allow ourselves to be intimidated by the common responses of discrediting, distracting, minimizing, skapegoating, silencing, or harassing.

Acting with honesty and asking for honesty are risky. But when is work in the mission/aid world not risky? The areas of greatest need are often the areas of greatest risk. Sometimes this significant risk lies is within our own organizations, communities, and sectors. Risk is not just out there somewhere in the dangerous, unstable "field" locations  laden with conflicts and calamities.

We say we are willing to lose our life for Christ. This is a noble aspiration. Time will tell. But in the meantime are we willing to risk losing our reputations and our careers for His sake?

*****

Transparency—The Book

Consider this next set of quotes from Bennis et al in Transparency: How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor (2006). Ah—if there were a book I would recommend right now to colleagues in member care and mission/aid it would be this one. Especially the first chapter. May I suggest that you read it and discuss it again and again. Apply it deeply and widely. It is not just about “them.” It is about all of us.

"But at any time an organization makes a seriously wrong decision, its leaders should call for an intensive postmortem. Such learning opportunities are too often overlooked. The tendency is simply to call on the public relations department to spin the mater, to make another inadequately thought-out decision, and perhaps to scapegoat, even fire, a few staff members. Because most companies cover up their mistakes instead of learning from them, systemic flaws in information flow tend to remain to do their damage another day." (pp. 22-23)

"Because denial, self-deception, and hypocrisy are such common features of organizational life, it is often useful for companies to bring in outside "anthropologists," independent observers skilled in identifying potentially toxic behaviors and the hidden values that drive them." (88-89)
*****

Reflection and Discussion

1. What are some of your own developmental musings about lessons and principles you learned during your initial cross-cultural experiences?

2. Why is it so hard to act honestly and to admit when we make mistakes?

3. In light of the Bennis quotes above, why is it difficult for organizations to confront their own errors and to ingrain honesty into their organizational ethos?

4. Give at least one positive example of a leader, friend, or organization that gets it right consistently—he/she/they admits a mistake, acts with integrity, and accepts the negative consequences.