lives, poisoning relationships, and
utterly killing joy, contentment, and
peace. It destroys everything in its
path, leaving a trail of hurt, conflict,
sadness, and pain in its wake. If the
church cares about teenagers, it
will want to protect us from sin and
its ferocious consequences. For
that reason, it will want to hold us
accountable.
But accountability is also
motivated by humility. Unlike
culture’s caricatures, Christians don’t
arrogantly assume we’re perfect.
On the contrary, we recognize how
imperfect we are, and that’s why we
pursue accountability.
intimacy. That necessitates more than
five minutes of small talk on a Sunday
morning. Teens must be active in the
community. They have to fellowship,
being willing to move past “hanging
out” with other teens in youth group
to the intentional spiritual discipline of
talking, growing, and doing life with
Christians of all ages.
Furthermore, they should know
their pastor(s) and be willing to go to
them if they need help. This should
be done with the encouragement,
support, and love of their parents,
the people who are teens’ primary
spiritual leaders. But sometimes
parents need help, and since
pastors are the church’s spiritual
How Does Accountability Work?
leaders, they’re our shepherds and
Where do teenagers fit in all of this, caretakers. But if they have no idea
though? Teens live in a hyper-sexual- what we’re struggling with, how can
ized and digital world where a million they help us overcome it (1 Pet. 5:2)?
temptations beep, tweet, and pop
2. Teens must pursue holiness
up every day, and sin is easy. If the
with the community. While the direct
church loves us, it will hold us account- practice of accountability is being
able. But if teens are part of the church watchful about sin, the indirect
too, that requires them to hold other
practice of accountability is pursuing
members accountable as well.
holiness. Teenagers must do this in
So what does it look like, in
the context of the community as
practice, for teenagers to be held
they learn and grow from hearing
accountable to the church? And
God’s Word taught and preached.
how can teenagers hold other
Teens need to see what sin is and
Christians accountable in return?
how to identify it. They need to learn
1. Teens must invest in the
how to fight temptation. The church
community of the church. Teens need is a family, a team, and teenagers
to know their church community, truly must pursue holiness with this team.
know them, in a way that cultivates
Speaking from experience, this will
organic honesty, vulnerability, and
warmly increase their love toward
22 Solutions