Years ago, when I was a young adult, “accountability partners” were a popular thing. Our church leaders would encourage us to find someone we could share our struggles with, and use that relationship to hold each other to higher standards- in a way that was private, but effective.
If you asked someone today who their accountability partner is, you might get a blank stare, a puzzled look, or even a scowl. It seems like people, especially church leaders, have forgotten what accountability is for.
Accountability is defined as “Explainable, answerable, an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions.”
Throughout history, we see the effects of leaders who didn’t have accountability, and the disastrous effects it led to. But most people won’t accept a rebuke from just anyone; there needs to be a level of trust there that most people just don’t want to commit to.
We see modern church leaders, who minister to millions of people, having massive falls from grace. Families rocked by child abuse, gone unreported, for decades. Politicians wrote the book on dirty dealings, and have been corrupt for thousands of years. Covert sins, secret affairs, and all sorts of things even going on in plain sight- but they get away with it, by and large, because they have no real accountability. Basically, anyone in any position of power has the ability to abuse that power- and many do.
So how can we solve this?
Ultimately, there cannot be a common standard of accountability without it working both ways. If you have to give an account, there needs to be someone to give the account to. And if the person receiving the account isn’t trustworthy, then it doesn’t do any good.
For your country, who holds the politicians accountable- other politicians? Who holds the doctors accountable- other doctors? Who holds the scientists accountable? Who holds the churches accountable? And so on, and so forth.
We are seeing a real-time breakdown of the accountability structure in every single part of society. To quote Scripture- “ In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 17:6) When there is no authority to set a standard of morality, or if the leadership is specifically untrustworthy, then the collapse of society as whole begins.
There needs to be some sort of moral standard- either religious, via a monarchy, or a *very* strong cultural precedent- for society to not fragment into degeneracy. As a rule, people gravitate towards chaos and anarchy without some sort of unification of morals, purpose, and meaning.
As we’ve seen demonstrated, the American and European political systems are completely corrupt to the point where all the points of accountability have been compromised. No one will punish them or hold them to the law.
The modern church (and I use that term loosely) has been infiltrated with megalomaniacs surrounded by sycophants who hide their numerous failings, instead of holding them accountable. There are legitimate “preacher groupies” that flock around these wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Culture has abandoned any semblance of reason or moral standards- it is being systematically stripped of any morality or decency. Even questioning this decline leads to condemnation, ostracizing, violence, and all sorts of evil.
No, my friend- there is no longer a place to hold one another accountable in the public space, so we must create one.
The church, as a whole, is not going to properly disciple you, or your children. You need to seek out Godly men or women to learn from, to worship with, to be held accountable to.
I’m trying to think of a catchy way to close this thought out, but I can’t come up with anything better than this:
Don’t wait for the church to provide what you know you need. Be proactive, and seek it out yourself. You’ll be better off for it.