Why are we afraid of "Christian Accountability"

     I was recently part of an extended online conversation regarding discipleship, accountability, and the role of the church. The conversation began after a friend posted Dan Dick's Blog article, "The Mediocre Commission." . Dan's point was that the Church is more concerned with our image than with our identity. He says that evidence of this is that church leaders are reluctant to hold members accountable to their membership vows for fear they might leave.

     Pastor's and church leaders cringed at the idea of holding their churches accountable. Now, I know most of these folk, and they are good shepherds of effective churches, so this really surprised me. Understand also that this was a conversation amongst United Methodist pastors and leaders, which made me scratch my head even more. Accountability was at the heart of the Wesleyan movement. It was accountability and a complex understanding of Grace that set John Wesley's teachings a part. It was that very same accountability and Grace theology that fueled the Methodist movement and brought revival to the church in England and birthed the Methodist Churches in America.

     Some of my friends failed to make the connection between discipleship and discipline (spiritual discipline). A couple not only failed to make the connection, they refused. They seemed to argue a preference for a church filled with believers, content in their own salvation and unwilling to share the Gospel through serving others and unwilling to learn and grow through the scriptures.

   Could it be that our churches are asleep because our leaders are asleep? Or worse, our leaders are afraid to wake the sleeping church, afraid of the hard work required to shepherd believers into discipleship. Through the Great Commission Christ commands us "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

     Christ calls for "disciples" not mere believers. Webster defines a disciple as "One who assists in spreading the doctrines of another." Can't do that by just sitting in a pew a couple of times a month.

    Christian accountability is not judgement, it is the complete opposite. Christian accountability springs forth from love. We love each other and want each other to grow in Christ. Churches and their leaders have to get away from the western consumerist doctrine that glorifies the individual and shuns community. The Church, Christ's Church, is (at its core) a community. An individual is not a church. God decided to organize His people in this way, in community.

   Please keep in mind that I'm advocating encouraging and shepherding folks toward a deeper relationship with Christ. Holding a person accountable does not mean forcing them to do something they are not ready to do or are not able to do. It means reminding them, in loving and encouraging ways, that this is what Christ calls them to and then providing them the opportunities and environment in which this growth can take place. Why would Methodist leaders reject this? Isn't this what they vowed to do?

Church Leadership Blog Digest



Where Christian Leaders Connect, Reflect, and Learn.


Kim Cape: "It isn't about sitting here playing bingo"
...the church’s challenge is to prepare transformational leaders who can tell laity, “It’s not all about sitting here playing bingo. We’ve got to get out in the community and be involved in Christ’s life in the world.”
Read More Here...Faith & Leadership




"Evangelical has been hijacked."

I am an evangelical. It defines the way I think (my orthodoxy), how I act (my orthopraxy), and how I relate to God, to others and my world (my orthopathy). This is a joyful and hopeful way of being a Christian. An evangelical loves God greatly, and seeks to serve others and bless the world. An evangelical is eager to engage in a community of faith that worships and encourages discipleship, and engages in mission around the world and in a neighborhood. This is that faith that is part of my heritage. This is the brand of Christianity that I have chosen. I am proud to be an evangelical.

But a crime has been committed. I am an evangelical, and I have been robbed.Read More from Doug Paul

"Church and Movement" 

NOTE: Even more than usual, this post is highly speculative. It shares a vision for the United Methodist Church’s structure that is likely flawed in many ways and is certainly not likely to be acted upon. It is offered, though, as one idea that might spark wiser and smarter people to come up with better ideas. 

Read More from:



 







Methodist Blog Digest

"Unnatural Gratitude"

Christians are made, not born," said Tertullian. No Christian virtues are innate. Nothing about following Jesus comes naturally. Therefore, so much that the church does for us is formational, educational, and transformational.
Read more from Bishop Will Wilimon's Bolg, A Peculiar Prophet


"United Methodist Pope and Problems of Consolidation"
There has been much fanfare about the restructuring plan for the UMC that will be presented to the 2012 General Conference. I just had a conversation with someone who recently came back from a meeting with a general agency of the church where the plan was explained. We had a wonderful conversation about the history of the UMC and our polity as it relates to the proposed legislation.
     .....A primary concern for me is that we are allowing a business model to dictate ecclesiology.
Read a brief assessment of key points in the Call to Action by someone who helped write the report. Rev. Tim McClendon, A Potter's View


"Congregations as a Whole Can’t Make Disciples…And That’s Okay"
It seems as thought I need to clarify some thoughts from my previous post where I declared: Congregations can’t make disciples. Apparently this phrase was a little offensive so let me offer some follow up thoughts to clarify my point:...
Rev Ben Gosden continues discussing the role of Congregations and Covenant Groups in forming disciples on his Blog, covered in the Master's dust


"The Quiet Revival"
Christianity Today reported a few years ago that eighty-five percent of the members of Yale University’s Campus Crusade for Christ chapter are Asian, whereas “the university’s Buddhist meditation meetings are almost exclusively attended by whites.”¹  There is an important lesson in this. It is often stated that Christianity in the Western world is in decline....
Read more from Asbury Theological Seminary President Timothy C. Tennent

Beware Institutional Prosperity Gospel

Last night I attended the Bowen Lecture Series at Memphis Theological where Dr. Mitzi Minor spoke on Paul’s Anti-Prosperity Gospel for the Corinthians. Dr. Minor is a New Testament scholar and recently published a commentary on Paul’s letters to the church at Corinth. The focus of last night’s discussion was Paul’s rejection of “triumphalism.” Paul reminds us that the purpose of discipleship is not personal gain, but God’s glory. If we count anything as gain in service to God then we have missed the boat.

This means that authentic discipleship can, and usually does, look like failure by worldly standards. We are to focus only on allowing the fragrance of God’s love to flow through us and not to keep score of what we have or accomplish. If we prosper, okay. If we suffer that’s all the better, because God is glorified in our suffering. God is glorified when we focus our efforts on God, regardless of any worldly measure of glory, success, or prosperity that might come from the fruit of our efforts. If our efforts bear fruit, it is God’s fruit, not our glory.

All this made me think about the Call to Action and the movement in United Methodist Conferences to use Church Reporting Dashboards and other analytical tools in an effort to measure church effectiveness. We’re treading a thin line here, getting very close to an Institutional form of Prosperity Gospel where we glory in membership numbers, small group attendance, and number of church ministries. How can we presume to take these numbers and create an analytical tool that quantifies church effectiveness? I say we can’t, chiefly because church effectiveness cannot be quantified, with any tool. When we try to do that, we glory in our efforts and results rather than in God.

I keep thinking of John 6: 25-70. Jesus challenges His disciples Hebrew sensibilities by telling them they must eat His flesh and drink His blood. Many, most, of the disciples abandon Jesus because of this teaching. If Jesus were a United Methodist Elder serving a local church, how would the Bishop and District Superintendent respond to His teaching and the results of that teaching?

I don’t think anything can stop this numbers focused movement. Too much of Western Culture has crept into the Methodist Church’s thinking and understanding of effectiveness. That alone is a dangerous thing. If we’re not very careful and very attentive we can do more harm than good. The problem with that is that when we make bad decisions that harm the Church, we risk pushing people away from Christ.

Our culture tells us to count what we value. We are called to value what our culture doesn’t count.