Pacesetting: AccountabilityHebrews 13:17 I believe pacesetting includes providing accountability, as often as possible. Accountability focuses on responsibility. When I have to state the details of my plan for spiritual growth to someone. When I have to explain why I did or did not carry out that plan. Then I am being held responsible. That's accountability. Since I became a Christian, I have maintained a steady stream of accountability relationships. I meet with other men. We discuss what God is doing in our lives. We share our plans for spiritual growth with each other. The next week, we meet and share how we did and why we succeeded or failed. Let's say my plan includes memorizing Psalm 1 during the next week. One week later, someone will ask me to quote Psalm 1. I know someone will ask. That knowledge is an added pressure to memorize Psalm 1. It's a healthy pressure. It's a positive force in the midst of many negative pressures. Satan doesn't want me to succeed spiritually. He will put his forces to work to keep me from memorizing Psalm 1. I'm lazy. I tend toward mediocrity by nature. My will wants to give in to Satan. My will tends to want to fail to memorize Psalm 1. Accountability encourages me to do otherwise. Accountability for and to MyselfPaul encouraged the Corinthians to make the ultimate accountability check. “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5) I am accountable to determine if the Lord Jesus Christ lives in me or not. I want to pass this accountability check above all others! I can do accountability checks in other areas as well. Every morning I get up and weigh myself. The scale in my bathroom is a daily accountability check. Every day I sit down and read my Bible. When I am done, I check off my daily reading plan. My checklist is a daily accountability tool. Accountability for and to OthersMoses was accountable to God for his care of the Israelites. “He (Moses) asked the LORD, 'Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? . . . I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me.” (Numbers 11:11,14) Moses felt a burden of accountability for the Israelites. It was a burden the LORD gave him. Jesus felt the same type of burden for His disciples. In John 17:6, He said, “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.” God gave the disciples to Jesus and He was faithful to hold them accountable to obey God's word. Paul felt the same type of burden for the people he ministered to all through the New Testament. The Corinthians, the Galatians, the Ephesians, the Colossians, the Philippians, the Thessalonians and so on. The writer of Hebrews summed it up as, “They (your leaders) keep watch over you as men who must give an account.” (Hebrews 13:17) Part of pacesetting and leading is holding people accountable. What does it look like?In my world, a typical accountability meeting looks like this. We usually meet early in the morning over breakfast. Before the day starts, 6 or 7 a.m. Any time will do as long as it's consistent each week. I have done lunch, dinner, afternoon, after dinner. Any of them will work. I just prefer a breakfast meeting, before the day gets too far along. Once the meeting starts, we review each other on memorized verses for 15 or 20 minutes. Then we pull out weekly accountability plans. One by one, we each explain to the group how we did at accomplishing our weekly objectives. It might sound like this: “I didn't get up to pray everyday at 5 am, but I did get up at 6 and prayed for 30 minutes. This week I am going to stick with 6 am.” I shared my testimony with my co-worker, Joe, over lunch on Thursday. He is not interested in further spiritual discussions. I am praying I can share my testimony with Mike this week over lunch.” “I read through the Gospel of Mark this week. I am going to read through the Gospel of John next week.” “I didn't memorize any verses this week. Over the weekend I am going to memorize three verses. And then next week I am going to memorize three more. I will have six new verses memorized before we meet next week.” We also explain any changes or deletions to out weekly plans. At some point, we describe any things we want to add to our plans and objectives. Accountability PlansAccountability plans can be individually tailored or agreed upon by the entire group. Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators, had a simple plan for men involved in his accountability group: “One hour a day. One verse a day. One life a day.” Translated it meant: “We agreed that we will each pray for one hour every day. We will memorize one new Bible verse every day. And we will share the good news about Jesus Christ with one person every day.” I have used similar group plans. They work fine. I prefer individually tailored plans. I can include people at different levels of spiritual maturity in the same group. Each person can create a plan that is appropriate for their spiritual level.
1. at least one objective related to taking in the Word of God Practical discipleship tips on taking in the Word of God
2. at least one objective related to prayer
Practical discipleship tips on praying
3. at least one objective related to witnessing
Practical discipleship tips on witnessing
4. at least one objective related to growth in character
Practical discipleship tips on growing in Christlikeness
A sample plan might look like this: 1. Read the Bible for 30 minutes every day Each week we discuss and refine our plans. Each week we have success and failures. The important thing is we keep trying!
Return to Pacesetting page
Posted on February 1, 2009
|
