Accountability Message Outline from Des Moines Epicenter Summer 2009

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[AgathaL'Orange]

Accountability
Epicenter
7/30/09

What it really means:


The necessity/biblical basis for accountability:

Romans 14:12 ( NASB )  So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.

Galatians 6:1-2  Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.  Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5:11  Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10  Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up.

Proverbs 12:15  The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel.
Proverbs 24:24-25  Whoever says to the guilty, 'you are innocent'—peoples will curse him and nations denounce him. But it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and rich blessing will come upon them.

Ezekiel 3:18-19  When I [God} say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.
Ephesians 5:21  and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Essentials for accountability in the body:

1. A guarded __________________ that builds trust:
Proverbs 11:13 (NLT):  A gossip goes around telling secrets, but those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence.


2. An unshakable ___________ that is patient and understanding: 
1 Peter 4:12  Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;

2 Corinthians 1:3-4:  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Ephesians 2:12:  Remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.


3. A humble __________________ that promotes openness and honesty:
1 Peter 5:5  In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

4. Focused ____________ on the Word of God:
Colossians 3:16 (NIV)  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.


5. A discerning ____________ for the other person’s condition:
1 Thessalonians 5:14  And we urge you, brothers and sisters, admonish the undisciplined, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient toward all.


6. Faithful _______________ that run to follow through: 
Galatians 6:1-2  Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.  Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.


A set of accountability questions from allaboutgod.com (a ministry from Saddleback Community Church) :
1.   What principle impacted your life from your quiet times this week?
2.   Do you feel you have been faithful to share your faith this week?
3.   Have you spent daily time with God in Bible reading and prayer?
4.   Have you given 100% effort in your job and home responsibilities?
5.   Have you been able to express love to those around you?
6.   Have you had opportunity to express encouragement and praise to your spouse, kids, or another family member?
7.   Has your thought life been pure?
8.   What was your biggest joy this week?
9.   How were you tempted and how did you respond?
10.   What have you done to enhance your relationship with your spouse?

Dr. Dobson’s set of accountability questions for men:
1.   Have you been with someone of the opposite sex this past week in a way that could be viewed as compromising?
2.   Have you pursued all your financial dealings with integrity?
3.   Have you viewed or read inappropriate material this week?
4.   Have you reached the goals you set for Bible Study and prayer?
5.   Have you spent quantity time and given priority to your family?
6.   Have you been fulfilling the mandate of your calling?
7.   Have you just lied to me?

A set of accountability commitments for leaders provided by Bill Young (GCC pastor in Salt Lake City):
1.   Prayer    -60 minutes per day
-for everyone in the church by name once per week
-with your wife 3 times per week
-for each accountability partner weekly
2.   Bible devotions – 30 min. per day
3.   Review at least 5 personal goals – 2 times per week
4.   Aerobic exercise – 30 min., 3 times per week
5.   Read book of your choice – 20 pages per week
6.   E-mail accountability group – weekly (no blowing smoke)
7.   Meet with accountability group for extended prayer and fellowship – 4 hours monthly


Questions:
1.   What is the most difficult obstacle in your character that hinders you from seeking true biblical accountability?
2.   To whom do you confess and reveal your deepest struggles, challenges, anxieties, and sins?
3.   How do these people help you overcome your shortcomings and grow in your walk with Christ?
4.   How are you at providing this help for others?
5.   If you do not have people like this in your life, what will you do to seek oout accountability relationships?

[AgathaL'Orange]

Notice the extra GC twist at the end.  As usual it is a "commitment".  They are still big on oaths and commitments I guess.

A set of accountability commitments for leaders provided by Bill Young (GCC pastor in Salt Lake City):
1.   Prayer    -60 minutes per day
-for everyone in the church by name once per week
-with your wife 3 times per week
-for each accountability partner weekly
2.   Bible devotions – 30 min. per day
3.   Review at least 5 personal goals – 2 times per week
4.   Aerobic exercise – 30 min., 3 times per week
5.   Read book of your choice – 20 pages per week
6.   E-mail accountability group – weekly (no blowing smoke)
7.   Meet with accountability group for extended prayer and fellowship – 4 hours monthly

[AgathaL'Orange]

http://epicenter.alivecf.com/images/uploads/jimw-060508-community.mp3

Here's another talk about not moving where there isn't "the church" meaning GC.  Wanting to live near your parents, or Seattle, or to move around isn't bad in itself, but the better way is to live near your church.  Don't have individualistic pursuits.  Still teaching it.  This is from last summer (2008) Epicenter in Des Moines.


This is the message all parents should listen to.  This is the worst message I've ever heard.  He says, people will say that this "teaching" is cultish, but that people throw that word around all the time.  Um, no, actually people almost NEVER use the word "cultish".  I think he thinks that because he was saved into GC and has never known a normal Christian group.  This message is over the top. 

[EverAStudent]

When I questioned the biblical nature of "accountability" practices while in GCI, I was given the "stiff necked and unteachable" speech.  Odd, I would have thought they would have tried to show me from Scriptures where being "accountable" to one another was commanded or even called a good idea.

Look, I know I am way outside the mainstream of pop Christian culture here, but my personal studies of "accountability" in the Word indicates I am accountable to Christ alone.  Others can help in certain ways, but I am never accountable to them.  And they have no biblical authority to do anything about whether I have quiet times, read enough, or study enough.  

I do feel very seriously that the Christian church has "asked for a king to be like other nations" when they seek accountability group leaders to replace God as the one to whom they are geniunely and personally accountable.  God is real, He is present, and He does not allow men to usurp His oversight and convicting role in our lives.  When the presence of God within us is no longer sufficient to move us to proper action no accountability can fix what has truly gone wrong in us.

[Linda]

That Epicenter message was definitely bad. And very Old School.

When you graduate, don't move back home if you think you should. God's will is obviously for you to stay with us and do something meaningful with your life. Okay, so he didn't actually SAY that, but that's what he said.

What about the Error Statement? Has this guy ever heard of it or read it?

Our failure to stress to college students the value of pursuing their education was also, in some cases, a failure on our part to help those students honor the parents who had sent them to college. Overall, we tried to strongly encourage students to love and respect their parents, and to view their parents as God's authorities in their lives. However, by not actively supporting the commitment the parents had made to a college education for their child, we implicitly encouraged some students to choose to leave college, contrary to the wishes of their parents. This undoubtedly caused some strife within those families and contributed to strained relationships between students and their parents. For this we apologize.

Saying you are sorry and then continuing your bad behavior is very convenient. You get to tell your critics, "I don't know what they are talking about. Look, we even typed up a statement of apology. See. They just can't forgive and move on."

If your parent's are God's authorities in your life and you think it's a good idea to get a job near your family after graduation, you don't need a "pastor" interfering.

Also, someone needs to educate GC leaders about fallacies. They are particularly skilled at ad hominem and in this message the false dilemma (either-or) fallacy.

Either you ask God what you should do after college and stay with GC, OR you graduate, move home to be near your family, and do nothing meaningful with your life.

Another, either-or they love. Either you go to a GC church with a plurality of leaders, OR you go to a church with a senior pastor who calls all the shots and has affairs with the church secretary.

[Immortal_Raven]

Never thought I'd see myself agreeing with Dobson, but his questions give the impression of someone who is encouraging men to be good husbands and fathers.  He is the head honcho for Focus on the Family, so that's what I expect.

This all stems to that local church loyalty teaching.  Somewhere along the line, GC attendees "planted their flag"  and would be sinning to leave, especially to a place with no GC church.  I'm guessing that if I had moved to a city with a GC church, no one would have made a big deal. 

Maybe I missed something, but why did GC implicitly encourage some students to give up seeking a degree?  I don't find a definite answer in the error statement.  I have some ideas, but I don't want to jump to conclusions.

-Immortal_Raven

[EverAStudent]

Apparently they encouraged some students to stop pursuing their degrees for the same reason the JWs do:  time is running short and we must be in the full time business of evangelizing for the cause.  

When people are uneducated, overworked, and always scraping by for funds they become very pliable in the hands of an authority figure or group that feeds them the line, "We are your family and will take care of you."  Moreover, the group gets a dedicated full time worker from whom they still demand tithes.

It is interesting that Jesus and His disciples always encouraged diligent study for oneself in the Scriptures and never denigrated education.  Quite unlike most cults today who want to spoon feed you only THEIR writings and doctrines and warn you of the scary consequences of being too broadly read.

[Rebekah]

Oh man, those Bill Young accountability commitments! Reading 20 pages of a book of (y)our choice, reviewing personal goals 2 per week, and exercising. They really know how to make life a big list of chores. I've been known to make a few charts and try to cross stuff off, but that's no way to grow spiritually.

It makes me think of this really interesting show by the comedian Demetri Martin, called "If I", where he talks about how he created a list to help him become a better person. It's funny and poignant.

Here's the first of six 9 min. videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKnzPHtf9u4&feature=related.

The list stuff starts in video 4.  

[EverAStudent]

What the Bible really says:
     but they [the unbelievers] will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. (1 Peter 4:5)
What they want it to say:
     but every GC church attender will give account to an elder who is ready to judge them

What the Bible really says:
     Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. (Hebrews 13:17)
What they want it so say:
     Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over every decision you make and you will have to give an account to them for all your actions, and if you cause them grief it will go badly for you.

What the Bible really says:
     [a loving person] does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,   (1 Corinthians 13:5)
What they want it to say:
     [an elder] does not act unbecomingly when they seek to impose their own will, so do not provoke them, for they will keep an accurate account of all disobedient actions as if they were personal affronts.

What the Bible really says:
     So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this--not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way. (Romans 14:12-13)
What they want it to say:
     So then each one of the GC flock will give an accont of himself to his elder.  Therefore, only the elder should judge, so determine to place no stumbling block in your elder's path as he carries out his job.

What the Bible reallyh says:
     Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; (Romans 3:19)
What they want it to say:
     Now we know that whatever the elders say, they speak to those who under GC authority, so that every mouth may be closed and all Christians in the world may become accountable to them.

What the Bible really says:
     and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.  (Ephesians 5:21)
What they want it to say:
     and be subject to your elders and be in fear of them.


Perhaps this is a bit too sarcastic, but seriously, these passages demonstrate our accountability is to God, not to others.  Accountability is a very improper word to replace the biblical concepts of counseling one another, crying with one another, equipping one another, restoring one another, and carrying another's burdens.  In fact, we are accountable to God to do all those things!

If anyone asks to make me their accountability partner, I say, "No, I will not be accountable for you because we are both accountable only to God.  However, I will be very pleased, and will count in a privilege, to help train you and equip you."

[AgathaL'Orange]

Great comparisons!  I would like to add.... 

GC definition of "Leader"= anyone tapped for leadership or anyone proclaimed to be a leader (must be in GC and must be GC approved), typically through lineage descended from the Blitz bus riders.

Ignore these non-worthy leaders if they contradict with GC:  parents if they are not in GC, other Bible teachers, what seminaries may teach,  historical doctrine, any "online detractors", and anyone who left (even if they once were GC approved). 

[Huldah]

Maybe I missed something, but why did GC implicitly encourage some students to give up seeking a degree?  I don't find a definite answer in the error statement.  I have some ideas, but I don't want to jump to conclusions.

GC was very pragmatic about non-GC activities. Just as non-GC friends weren't valued if they didn't further one's spiritual goals, education wasn't valued if it served no obvious spiritual purpose. Many of the benefits of higher education (critical thinking skills, writing skills, mental and intellectual enrichment, raising the education levels of potential home-schooling moms, even the sheer joy of learning things) were completely overlooked. The only point of an education, from the GC point of view, was to advance a career. And careers were dangerously worldly.

Here is a summary of the notes I took during a winter conference in New York at the end of 1977. Most of the Columbus church was in attendance, as well as some young adults from a Chinese church in Canada. There were probably other GC churches represented, but I don't remember details. The notes indicate that this was from a question and answer session with the elders of the Columbus, East Lansing, Guelph, & Houston churches. Herschel Martindale was one of the speakers. Most likely all the Columbus elders (Clark & co.) were there as well although I don't specifically remember them.

Q: How should we seek an occupation?

A: Every Christian already has an occupation: to reach the world. What we need is a (financial) support system, but not a priority. You mustn't become entangled in your job. If you follow all the commands in Scripture, how can you get rich? (By implication, you can't and shouldn't.) You can save money for a genuine pressing need, but you shouldn't stash money away for a rainy day. High-paying jobs are a problem because you'll be tempted to raise your standard of living. There should be no idea of a career, in the sense of a consuming profession.

We can't influence the world by changing the outward system. We can use our influence for God in any place, but Scripturally, nobody ever sought a higher position for the sake of serving the Lord. If a general gets saved and influences his troops for Christ, that's great, but a Christian soldier shouldn't seek to become a general.

The latter thinking was something we heard often at the Columbus church. "Medical school is a distraction from spreading the gospel. If God needs a doctor, he'll save a doctor."

There was also a suspicion (not unfounded) that college professors were a godless crew out to undermine our faith. Sadly, the leadership didn't challenge the student members to channel any of their any of their academic skills into a vibrant apologetics ministry. (What a missed opportunity!) It was okay to hand an unbeliever a copy of Evidence That Demands a Verdict, but beyond that, you shouldn't waste time trying to dialogue with friends or classmates who ask tough questions about the Bible. That would be unprofitable.

So there you have it: education was unnecessary, distracting, and potentially dangerous. You were better off dropping out and finding a job that paid you just enough to live on.

[nelliepooh]

This type of message is a core theme of this church and one of many reasons why I left.  I know several pastors may have come from ames.  does anyone know if they are connected to the mccotter era?