Authenticity is a truth telling practice to help us more honestly be ourselves, without shame or fear of judgement, and help create a culture where others are equally free to be themselves. Authenticity is always about being present, showing up, and not hiding the core of yourself.
Can I tell the truth about myself to myself? Can I risk telling the truth to you? Will you be able to help me tell more of the truth to myself? When we practice authenticity, the answer to all these questions is yes.
“Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.”
–Brené Brown
Authenticity is one of our six core values. It relates to our other values like colors on a color wheel. If we strive authenticity and oneness, we we get family. If we seek authenticity and discipleship, we will always find growth.
When we can’t be honest, we let distance grow into our relationship so we won’t feel like the pain of rejection. We let walls come between us, rather than love. To keep this from happening, it takes courage to be honest and vulnerable.
To help facilitate spaces for authenticity, we can create safe spaces for honesty and transparency, safe to come out of hiding. And we give each other permission.
We can get hurt and misunderstood. But the book, The Cure: What if God isn’t who you think He is and neither are you?, offers some insightful advice: You can’t control whether or not you are known, you can only make sure you are not hidden.
Additional takes:
Three concepts seem to be fundamental to an understanding of authenticity. The first component is that of honesty. This is understood as 1). seeing things for what they really are and 2). allowing others to things as they really are. The word sincerity is helpful here.
The second concept involved in authenticity seems to be an openness to others and the potential impact of their lives both in our service towards them and in receiving their service towards us. In a sense, authenticity is the acknowledgment of all we believe to be fundamental about God and our DNA in his image. The word receptive is helpful here.
The third concept is a sense of inquisitive hope towards what God may be up to inner life through the people around us and what he may be up to in their lives through us. The word expectant is helpful here.
Authenticity seems to be both a disposition and a decision. Sin has consistently produced the byproduct of fear and desire to hide ever since sin entered the world to this very day. This is a powerful and active engird and activeness to reckon fully with the forces of this world at work.
We are a group of families striving to live an authentic faith free from artificial social constructs. We do not go to church, rather, we are the church. For 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, we struggle with and how to grow in this reality. We are Liquid.