Tuesday, June 11, 2013

AAEVS - Putting Together a Christ-centered Community (Part 7)

(Brace yourselves for a long read!)

Accountability of Sinful Nature/Spiritual Warfare/Nouthetic Counseling

This is very important as it is the main focus of the paragraph. The paragraph states that our elders wish us to "display God’s love to one another through encouragement, accountability, exhortation and discipline." (EVS Paragraph 2b) Thus, it is necessary that I use this whole post to give a big picture analysis of what this would look like.

What does it look like for church members to accountable to one another? Alan Medinger, a biblical counselor gives a lengthy, tough description of an accountability relationship:
An accountability relationship is one in which a Christian gives permission to another believer to look into his life for purposes of questioning, challenging, admonishing, advising, encouraging, and otherwise providing input in ways that will help the individual live according to the Christian principles that they both hold. (As quoted in Not Even A Hint, Page 136) 
Why should we be accountable to each other? God commands it for our good. (1 Corinthians 10:12; Hebrews 3:12-14; Hebrews 10:24-25) Because we have a natural descent into sin, we can listen to our pessimistic, self-centered selves for so long that we become hardened to the comforting and admonishing word of God. Spiritual autonomy is not God's plan for His children. He has placed us in a network of accountability partners ranging from fellow members to parents to elders and other leaders to sister churches.