The Need for Church
Accountability
By Jaquelle Crowe
Church accountability.
The phrase evokes a
thousand images. Culture
strives to make us picture
ugly images, caricaturing
accountability as pharisaical
finger-pointing, judgmental
condemnation, awkward
intrusion, and hypocritical
legalism. And this overwhelm-
ingly negative perspective
has given rise to a new
generation that views
church accountability
with an unprecedented
wariness.
Among young Christians,
especially teenagers, there
is a surging skepticism to
accountability within the
confines of the local church.
Today’s teens are so pas-
sionate about tolerance
and acceptance, that
they’re less passionate
about accountability and
all the potential dangers it
can present.
But this is a serious
mistake. I’m a teenage
Christian, and over the
years, not only have I
become convinced of the
necessity of accountability
in the life of every Christian
teen, I’ve learned to love
accountability. This is why.
Why Accountability?
The reason teens don’t
like accountability is that
they picture it as a legalistic
Big Brother experience: the
church is always looking
over their shoulder, waiting
for them to mess up, poised
to pounce on any perceived
mistake and ready to throw
it in their faces. But this is not
the biblical portrait of
accountability. The Bible
gives a much more compel-
ling one: the church is a
family who, out of a desper-
ate love, helps protect one
another from sin.
This is what culture misses:
accountability is motivated
by love – love for God and
love for each other. The
church boldly recognizes
that sin is not a game
(Rom. 5:12). It has deadly
consequences, wrecking
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