I was in an accountability group in college.  God used some Christian brothers to help me be more faithful in my Christian walk.  I didn’t “need” an accountability group to grow, but I certainly needed other Christians to have biblical fellowship with me.  The accountability group provided some structure for our biblical fellowship, and all of us in the group enjoyed the benefits of true fellowship on a weekly basis.

 

A definition of an accountability group

True biblical fellowship always involves some accountability.  When you keep a person accountable you find out how he is doing, pray for him, admonish him if necessary, comfort him, teach him, and encourage him.  An effective accountability will provide opportunities for each of these biblical responsibilities.  Let’s consider a more formal definition…

 

An accountability group is a fixed number of people meet on a regular and planned basis for the purpose of giving an account to each other concerning each person’s spiritual life (perhaps only an aspect of a person’s spiritual life) and encouraging (challenging, admonishing, etc.) each to be more faithful to Christ.  It is a specific plan to observe God’s “one another” commands.

 

A few benefits and uses of an accountability group

1. You have a plan to encourage other believers.  We are to discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness.  Discipline involves adding structure in order to accomplish a goal.  All Christians should have a goal to encourage other believers.  An accountability group provides structure to assist in meeting that goal.  (You should encourage more people than those in your accountability group though.)

 

2. You have a plan to receive encouragement.  It is important to receive encouragement.  Members of the body need each other.  You need what others have.  No one can say he has no need of the body.  The “one another” commands are reciprocal.  That is, you are supposed to be on the giving end and the receiving end of those commands.  That is God’s intention.  That is God’s command.

 

3. You have others to pick you up when you fall.  Ecclesiastes 4:10 says, “Woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.”  If you fell spiritually, would there be someone to pick you up?  Would anyone know that you fell?  If someone did know that you fell, would he/she help you up?  An accountability group is made up of people that commit to knowing when you fall and then helping you back up.

 

Dangers to watch out for in your accountability group

1. Some accountability groups simply waste time.  Many accountability groups are a waste of time simply because the members of the group aren’t diligent enough to keep the others accountable.

 

2. Some accountability groups provide convenient opportunities for complaining.  In meetings it is possible that members share with the others all the things that have not gone well for them.  It can sometimes feel good to share with others all the “bad” things that happen in life.  Complaining is a sin – even in an accountability group.

 

3. Some accountability groups provide convenient opportunities for gossip.  It can sometimes be easy for husbands to gossip about their wives and for wives to gossip about their husbands.  The same is true for siblings, parents, friends, etc.  It may start out that a person is giving an account for how he responds to difficulty in his life, but as he relates the “temptations” and “trials” he gossips about others.

 

4. Some accountability groups amount to wallowing in sin.  As people share their struggles, faults, trials, etc., people may start to feel sorry for themselves.  People end up looking forward to accountability group meetings because they like the sympathy they get from others.  They feel “encouraged.”

 

Suggestions for an effective, God-honoring accountability group

1. Have a fixed number of people.  Don’t allow people to come and go with the wind.  It takes time be build relationships.  If three people are meeting together and a fourth person jumps in, the three will have to start giving a considerable time to the newbie – getting to know him, finding out how they can most effectively pray for and encourage him, etc.  If he leaves after 3 weeks, perhaps nothing was even accomplished. 

 

2. Limit the number in the group to three or four.  Two people will work, but “a cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart” (Ecclesiastes 4:12b).  When one person stops encouraging another during the week (between official meetings) it is easy for the one who was supposed to receive that encouragement to stop encouraging as well.  A third person adds stability.  When the other two fall down, there is still one more than can help pick ‘em back up.  I think four people will work too, but any more than that is difficult.  Meetings would have to be longer to provide enough time to address each one.  Also, there is not as much pressure on each one to encourage others when someone falls.  If there are 4 people in the group, when one member is discouraged the other three know their responsibility to encourage him.  Probably one person will step forward to encourage and the other two will watch and maybe add a little comment.  In a group of 10 people with one person discouraged, you may find one person encouraging and nine people watching.  There is a good chance it will always be the same nine people watching too.  Obviously ten people in a group is more of a problem than five.  I recommend three or four people max to be most effective.

 

3. Make sure all members have responsibilities to encourage the others.  If calls are made during the week to keep each other accountable, don’t have just one person make all the calls week after week.  Have all members share in the responsibilities.  No one should be only a receiver.  Everyone should give and receive encouragement.

 

4. Have a specific schedule that you follow each meeting.  You want the time spent together to be productive.  It is easy to talk about other things without getting to the significant issues in each others’ lives.  Here is a suggested schedule for a meeting.

 

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(1) Open in prayer.  Have everyone pray unless you find time running short; if time tends to run short in your meetings have one person volunteer to pray.  This prayer should not be one of the “quickies.”  It sets the tone for your whole meeting. 

 

(2) Have one person challenge the others from the Word.  Begin a rotation so that everyone in the group has the responsibility of encouraging the others at your meetings.  The challenge from the Word should be…

• Right from Scriptures (not based on personal experience).
• Planned out.  The person should study and prepare for the opportunity.
• A call to action.  The person should not merely say something to the effect of, “The verse really stuck out to me” or “this verse is really neat.”  Those comments are okay, but the goal is to challenge others by calling them to action.  There should be comments along the lines of “we all need to heed God’s warning,” “we need to consider how we are…,” or “I was reminded that I need to be…and you too should consider…”
• Within a prescribed time.  Determine the amount of time you will give to challenging others from the Word based on the time slots that you have in the week.  Probably 10-15 minutes will suffice.

(3) Question each other about the following:

[Here are some questions I found to be helpful.  You should get more specific with each person as you work through the questions.]

• “Did you follow your plan for personal biblestudy and prayer?”

If "no,"

• • “Why?  What got you off track?" 
  • "Do you anticipate these same obstacles in the future?"
  • "What are you going to do to overcome these obstacles in the future?”
    
• “What did the Lord teach in your time alone with Him?” 

This question would be in place of having one person each time give a challenge from the Word; if you find time running short meeting after meeting you can have one person do it rather than everyone (as described under (2) above).  See comments above about how to give a challenge from the Word.

 

If “Nothing,"

• • “Why?  What got you off track?" 
  • "Do you anticipate these same obstacles in the future?"
  • "What are you going to do to overcome these obstacles in the future?”
    
• “What did you struggle with this week?”

If "I failed in the area of _____,"

• • “Have you developed a plan (whether big or small) to conquer this area in order to be obedient to God?”
  • "Is there anything we could do to help you in the future?"

If a person has failed in some way, everyone must make a special note of this in order to pray for the person.

• “How should we pray for you this week?”

Close in prayer. Everyone should pray. Perhaps each person would pray thoroughly for the person to his left.  Other formats could be used too.

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[continuing with more suggestions]

 

5. Don't let problems continue in a person's life without any progress.  If this happens, seek help from someone who you think may be able to help (pastor, parent, etc.).

 

6. Make sure the members of the accountability group are in the same local church.  There are good reasons for doing so. 

(1) You will see each other at other times during the week giving you more opportunities to encourage each other and keep up with each other.

(2) The accountability will be more effective as the members of the group witness each other's words and actions at church funtions.

(3) Members of the group will have most likely agree on doctrine.  Agreement on doctrine is obviously essential for unity.

(4) If counsel from a pastor is necessary or helpful, all members have the same pastor(s) to talk with.

(5) It prevents you from being counterproductive.  One of the things you should be encouraging the other members of the accountability group to do (to be faithful to God) is to get intimately involved with others in their church.  But every meeting you have with them you are taking at least some of the time and energy they need to fulfill their responsibilities towards the members of their flock.  They can't build close relationships with everyone.  The people in their local church are, biblically speaking, members of their household.  You are not members of their household in the same way (1 Timothy 3:15). 

(6) If a member of the group does not repent of a particular sin, you can faithfully exercise your responsibilities invovled in God's plan for church discipline within the local church (Matthew 18:15-20). 

7. Have a regular time for your meetings.  Without a regular meeting time you may find that your group misses a whole month of accountability here and there.  You may decide to meet once a month, every other Wednesday, every Saturday morning, etc.  Whatever the schedule, you need to have one.

 

Okay.  That's all for now.  I may add more to this in another blawg sometime.  Let me know how your accountability group goes.  I would love to hear.