Do Christians need accountability? – Holding one another accountable, Preview

In my county, there’s a company with a sign advertising “Ultimate Accountability.”  How does “ultimate accountability” sound to you?  Harsh?  Restrictive?  Legalistic?  Freeing?  Gracious?  Good?

Accountability is a fraught concept.  That company is an accounting firm, working with businesses to make sure their bookkeeping and taxes are legal and ethical. Very important. But accountability can be nerve-wracking, even in the business world.  Who among you enjoys being audited?  Who likes having someone else look over your work, checking what you’ve done, line by line by line?

Accountability is a fraught concept because while it can help keep us on the straight and narrow, which we do want, accountability (if it’s any good) will also tell us when we have veered from the path, which we might not want to hear about or deal with.

Every August I get my annual performance review, and our Pastoral Relations Committee is always so kind and gracious.  But still I get nervous as I wait to enter those meetings and hear what they have to say.  Even though I know there are always ways I can improve, and I want to improve, and I know the people on the PRC care about me, my mindset before those annual job performance evaluations is not, “This is awesome! I am so excited to be held accountable. I am going to grow and learn.”

If any of that resonates with you, then this coming week’s blog posts, I hope, will help.  Part of our blog series on relationships in the church, this coming week we’re going to talk about how disciples of Jesus like you and I faithfully hold one another accountable.  Do we need accountability?  Why?  What does Scripture have to say about accountability? We get started on Monday.