When a Brother Falls
Lloyd Colston
In the September 7 issue of Christian Standard, Steven Reeves of
Brownsburg Church in Brownsburg, IN makes an interesting series
of points regarding Christians and accountability.
Listing seven questions of accountability, Brother Reeves encourages
the Christian to find an accountability partner.
I am wondering if there are those on the net who wish to do this
online. The seven questions are:
1) Have you been with a woman anywhere, this week, that might
been seen as compromising?
2) Have any of your financial dealings lacked integrity?
3) Have you watched, read, or listened to any sexually-
explicit material?
4) Have you spent adequate time in Bible study and prayer?
5) Have you given priority time to your family?
6) Have you filled the mandates of your calling?
7) Have you lied about any of the above?
These questions would be good starters for a mens' accountability
group. I heard one of the speakers at "Iron Sharpens Iron"
(Tulsa) giving a list rather like this.
How about it men?
Lloyd Colston Excellence is not an accident.
Pryor, OK USA social worker, writer, editor
KC5FM Home page http://www.viagrafix.com/colston
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Darin McGrew
col...@viagrafix.com (Lloyd Colston) wrote:
> Listing seven questions of accountability, Brother Reeves encourages
> the Christian to find an accountability partner.
>
> I am wondering if there are those on the net who wish to do this
> online. The seven questions are:
I have been in accountability groups that used variations of these seven
question. I found it very helpful. It also forced me to confront the
issue of why I was concerned more about accountability to other men than
about accountability to God, who already knows the answers to the seven
questions. But that's another topic of discussion.
You'll notice that the seven questions are extremely sensitive.
Accountability is like that. But that kind of accountability requires
trust, and that's a lot easier face-to-face with someone you know than via
email with someone you've never met.
Darin McGrew, mcg...@alumni.stanford.org, http://www.rahul.net/mcgrew/
He is risen! He is risen indeed!
Clint Myhre
On Wed, 10 Sep 1997, Lloyd Colston wrote:
> Listing seven questions of accountability, Brother Reeves encourages
> the Christian to find an accountability partner.
>
> I am wondering if there are those on the net who wish to do this
> online. The seven questions are:
>
> 1) Have you been with a woman anywhere, this week, that might
> been seen as compromising?
> 2) Have any of your financial dealings lacked integrity?
> 3) Have you watched, read, or listened to any sexually-
> explicit material?
> 4) Have you spent adequate time in Bible study and prayer?
> 5) Have you given priority time to your family?
> 6) Have you filled the mandates of your calling?
> 7) Have you lied about any of the above?
>
> These questions would be good starters for a mens' accountability
> group. I heard one of the speakers at "Iron Sharpens Iron"
> (Tulsa) giving a list rather like this.
>
> How about it men?
This is an interesting idea. I can see both pros and cons to such a group.
Pros:
1. You could "attend" the group according to your own schedule without
committing to a specific meeting time.
2. You could build relationships with men from all over the country.
3. You would have access to a group of men for prayer. Some could respond
instantly.
Cons:
1. I'm in an accountability group now, and the biggest thing is the trust
factor. It would be difficult to build that kind of trust with virtual
strangers. Perhaps the group would have to go through a growing period
before all the members would be comfortable sharing answers to
questions such as those suggested. This also brings up the question of
how to admit new members after the group has matured.
2. The group would need very specific rules that the members must
abide by. Some examples:
- With my real group the rule is that what is said never leaves the
room. A "virtual group" would never forward or quote email to
anyone outside the group.
- Our real group has a rule against "triangling." That is we never
talk about a member unless he is present. The virtual group would
never forward or quote email unless it was sent to the entire group.
3. It may be a good idea to use some type of encryption to ensure
confidentiality.
I suggest that we expand on these rules and form a kind of charter for a
virtual accountability group. Let's see where the Lord leads.
Clint
CADCAMMike
In article <19970911035822437.AAB276@[207.204.102.13]>,
col...@viagrafix.com (Lloyd Colston) writes:
>
> In the September 7 issue of Christian Standard, Steven Reeves of
> Brownsburg Church in Brownsburg, IN makes an interesting series
> of points regarding Christians and accountability.
>
> Listing seven questions of accountability, Brother Reeves encourages
> the Christian to find an accountability partner.
>
> I am wondering if there are those on the net who wish to do this
> online. The seven questions are:
>
> 1) Have you been with a woman anywhere, this week, that might
> been seen as compromising?
> 2) Have any of your financial dealings lacked integrity?
> 3) Have you watched, read, or listened to any sexually-
> explicit material?
> 4) Have you spent adequate time in Bible study and prayer?
> 5) Have you given priority time to your family?
> 6) Have you filled the mandates of your calling?
> 7) Have you lied about any of the above?
Lloyd,
What was Reeves' biblical foundation for asking such questions? Does the
article say, or is this man-made accountability?
Just because men agree that asking and answering these questions is okay,
does not make it biblical. The standard comeback to this question has been
"well, nobody is forced to answer any questions if they don't want." That's
not the point. The point is, should these types of questions even be asked
in the first place, regardless of one's willingness or resistence to answer
them?
"Accountability" is not just a PK phenomenon, I see it creeping into other
men's ministries and other Bible studies. The concept sounds good in
principle, but I don't see it in The Book.
I see that we are instructed to "confess your sins to one another" (cf:
James 5:16), but it does not instruct us to interrogate our brothers.
Where in the Bible might I find examples of brothers asking others
brothers questions like these?
Scott D. Jung
On Thu, 11 Sep 1997 23:35:45 GMT, mcg...@alumni.stanford.org (Darin
McGrew) wrote:
Some Snipped.....
>
>You'll notice that the seven questions are extremely sensitive.
>Accountability is like that. But that kind of accountability requires
>trust, and that's a lot easier face-to-face with someone you know than via
>email with someone you've never met.
I think you may be wrong here. Imagine committing a sin. You confess
it to God, but you aren't ready to speak of it aloud to anyone else.
Do you go to someone you know, who knows you and most everyone else
that you know? Or would it be better to bring it to a stranger?
Granted, there is some trust factor that the group would not forward
it on, but then who else would REALLY care about my sin? For
instance, let us say I commit adultery. If I bring it to a friend, he
may think that the best way for me to atone is to tell my wife and if
I don't...he will? A stranger on the other hand would be willing to
pray about the situation, but probably doesn't know my wife. Therefor
he would be able to offer counsel in an unbiased way.
As far as the groups go, have 4-5 guys commit to it and each create a
"group" address (or simply put all the names in the TO: field. Then
each man can answer the questions Lloyd posted, and post his results
to the group. Whenever something is troubling someone, they can write
to the group and recieve either personal replies or group replies,
depending on how the others feel about it.
Scott
Lloyd Colston
Scott D. Jung wrote:
>
> As far as the groups go, have 4-5 guys commit to it and each create a
> "group" address (or simply put all the names in the TO: field. Then
> each man can answer the questions Lloyd posted, and post his results
> to the group. Whenever something is troubling someone, they can write
> to the group and recieve either personal replies or group replies,
> depending on how the others feel about it.
One technical solution to this would be Bigfoot. http://www.bigfoot.com
will give you an email address and you can set it up to distribute to a
group.
If you have Pegasus, you can set your filter to distribute a message
with a particular subject to a group.
If you use Hotmail, you can set up the account so that all could use
the same account/password. The disadvantage to this one is that one
would have to have net access live.
>
--
Lloyd Colston Excellence is not an accident.
Pryor, OK USA social worker, writer, editor
KC5FM Home page http://www.viagrafix.com/colston
Auto-responder mailto:kc5fm...@freeyellow.com
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Jerry Bryson
In article <19970912145...@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
cadca...@aol.com (CADCAMMike) wrote:
> "Accountability" is not just a PK phenomenon, I see it creeping into other
> men's ministries and other Bible studies. The concept sounds good in
> principle, but I don't see it in The Book.
And the questions aren't "cannon," i.e. the list isn't closed, is it?
PK's leaders might be sensible about it, but the other groups you mention?
Is somebody going to be asking how you voted?
Some of the questions are certainly nobody's business, as they are.
For people wo have jobs, of course, the answer to #1 is always "yes"
not_d...@epix.net
JBr...@richmond.infi.net (Jerry Bryson) wrote:
>In article <19970912145...@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
>cadca...@aol.com (CADCAMMike) wrote:
>For people wo have jobs, of course, the answer to #1 is always "yes"
Why? Why is do you have to be in a "compromising position with a women"
just because you have a job? I have not found this necessary at all.
>> In article <19970911035822437.AAB276@[207.204.102.13]>,
>> col...@viagrafix.com (Lloyd Colston) writes:
>>
>> >
>> > In the September 7 issue of Christian Standard, Steven Reeves of
>> > Brownsburg Church in Brownsburg, IN makes an interesting series
>> > of points regarding Christians and accountability.
>> >
>> > Listing seven questions of accountability, Brother Reeves encourages
>> > the Christian to find an accountability partner.
>> >
>> > I am wondering if there are those on the net who wish to do this
>> > online. The seven questions are:
>> >
>> > 1) Have you been with a woman anywhere, this week, that might
>> > been seen as compromising?
>> > 2) Have any of your financial dealings lacked integrity?
>> > 3) Have you watched, read, or listened to any sexually-
>> > explicit material?
>> > 4) Have you spent adequate time in Bible study and prayer?
>> > 5) Have you given priority time to your family?
>> > 6) Have you filled the mandates of your calling?
>> > 7) Have you lied about any of the above?
>>
>>
>> Lloyd,
>>
Regards
David Ronk
not_d...@epix.net
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Rev. Don R. Fauquier, D.D.
Many ministers have had other ministers for accountability partners for I don't
know how long. They understand that even ministers need a minister. If it works
for ministers, why is it so difficult for laymen. The ministers that have fallen
did not use this mechanism.
Grace and peace.
Don
Jerry Bryson wrote:
> In article <19970912145...@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
> cadca...@aol.com (CADCAMMike) wrote:
>
> > "Accountability" is not just a PK phenomenon, I see it creeping into other
> > men's ministries and other Bible studies. The concept sounds good in
> > principle, but I don't see it in The Book.
> And the questions aren't "cannon," i.e. the list isn't closed, is it?
> PK's leaders might be sensible about it, but the other groups you mention?
> Is somebody going to be asking how you voted?
>
> Some of the questions are certainly nobody's business, as they are.
>
> For people wo have jobs, of course, the answer to #1 is always "yes"
>
> > In article <19970911035822437.AAB276@[207.204.102.13]>,
> > col...@viagrafix.com (Lloyd Colston) writes:
> >
> > >
> > > In the September 7 issue of Christian Standard, Steven Reeves of
> > > Brownsburg Church in Brownsburg, IN makes an interesting series
> > > of points regarding Christians and accountability.
> > >
> > > Listing seven questions of accountability, Brother Reeves encourages
> > > the Christian to find an accountability partner.
> > >
> > > I am wondering if there are those on the net who wish to do this
> > > online. The seven questions are:
> > >
> > > 1) Have you been with a woman anywhere, this week, that might
> > > been seen as compromising?
> > > 2) Have any of your financial dealings lacked integrity?
> > > 3) Have you watched, read, or listened to any sexually-
> > > explicit material?
> > > 4) Have you spent adequate time in Bible study and prayer?
> > > 5) Have you given priority time to your family?
> > > 6) Have you filled the mandates of your calling?
> > > 7) Have you lied about any of the above?
> >
> >
> > Lloyd,
> >
> > What was Reeves' biblical foundation for asking such questions? Does the
> > article say, or is this man-made accountability?
> >
> > Just because men agree that asking and answering these questions is okay,
> > does not make it biblical. The standard comeback to this question has been
> > "well, nobody is forced to answer any questions if they don't want." That's
> > not the point. The point is, should these types of questions even be asked
> > in the first place, regardless of one's willingness or resistence to answer
> > them?
> >
> > "Accountability" is not just a PK phenomenon, I see it creeping into other
> > men's ministries and other Bible studies. The concept sounds good in
> > principle, but I don't see it in The Book.
> >
> > I see that we are instructed to "confess your sins to one another" (cf:
> > James 5:16), but it does not instruct us to interrogate our brothers.
> >
> > Where in the Bible might I find examples of brothers asking others
> > brothers questions like these?