Principles in Practice

Making Yourself Accountable

Throughout the Scriptures, God calls us to account for our actions, our obedience to Him. I want to share with you one system for developing personal accountability that men and women across our country are accepting and adopting enthusiastically.

Scriptural Foundation

While personal accountability is urged upon us on throughout the Bible, some particular references you might reflect upon in your quiet time include: Ephesians 5:21 (Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ); James 5:16 (Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed); Proverbs 10:17 (Advisability of heeding discipline versus ignoring correction); Proverbs 15:22 (Plans fail for lack of counsel); Proverbs 27:5 (Better is open rebuke than hidden love); Proverbs 27:17 (As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another); and Proverbs 28:26 (He who trusts in himself is a fool). Many of these passages emphasize the importance of involving other believers in our efforts to follow Biblical principles.

The Process

The process is simple. One assembles a group of people to serve as a personal Board of Accountability, much like a Board of Directors, but for a person rather than a company.

To be effective, both the person seeking to be held accountable ("accountee") and those holding him or her accountable need to join together in obedience to God. In other words, God needs to call each person to the process. The accountee is not asking for a favor nor are board members doing a favor. Rather, all must be responding to the prompting of God's Spirit.

The underlying motivation of the accountee must be to grow in his or her relationship with God through a greater commitment to obedience.

Membership on the Board

To determine who should serve on the board, the accountee may start by seeking the counsel of one or two committed Christian friends. Together they can select four or five candidates, with an eye toward forming an initial board of three to five members.

Candidates can be drawn from friends, acquaintances and even strangers whose reputation precedes them. Only committed, born-again, spiritually mature Christians should be considered for membership. It's desirable to have candidates with a business background and experience, and a willingness to confront in love. Previous service on a board of accountability is most helpful.

A Christian spouse may be a member of the board. However, unless the spouse strongly desires membership, it is often more helpful for him or her to serve as an advisor rather than an actual member.

Pre-organizational Meeting

To begin, all potential board members should attend a pre-organizational meeting to learn about the process, to ask questions and to prayerfully consider whether God is calling them to serve Him in this way. At this time the group can set the date, time and location for an organizational meeting, and each potential member agrees to notify the accountee before that meeting whether he or she will serve.

Organizational Meeting

Ideally, the organizational meeting would be held within two weeks of the first meeting to address the following:

• A routine date, time and location for future meetings--usually monthly during the first year, such as the first Monday, from 12:00 to 2:00. A two- hour framework works well.
• A commitment to punctuality in beginning and ending each meeting.
• A leader or convener--probably someone other than the accountee--should be selected. This individual prepares an agenda and oversees the smooth running of the meeting.
• A recorder should be chosen to keep track of decisions made at each meeting. All commitments asked of the accountee should be recorded and all progress made toward fulfilling past commitments should be noted. It is best to prepare board minutes within 24 hours after each meeting and to circulate them promptly to all board members.

Commitments of Board Members

• To pray regularly for the accountee.
• To give a high priority to attending meetings of the board.
• To be willing to rebuke in love, even at the risk of offending the accountee or other board members.

Subject Matter of Board Meetings

• At a minimum, the board should address the following topics at its meetings:
• The accountee's quiet time, including routine time for prayer, meditation, Bible reading, Bible study and Bible memory. Relationships, including those with the accountee's spouse, children, additional family members and others.
• The accountee's management and use of time.
• he accountee's management and stewardship of personal finances, including personal financial statement, budget, statement of income and expense, level of giving, borrowing and debt.
• Current and future employment.
• If the accountee owns or manages a business, areas of inquiry should include business concerns, including purpose of the business, guiding Scripture, Biblical principles of operating a business and the business's finances.
• If the accountee's spouse is not a Christian, the accountee and the board will need to prayerfully and carefully discuss the relationship of the accountability process to the unsaved spouse.

Compensation of Board Members

While there is no apparent reason to forbid compensation, it does not appear to be a meaningful component of the process. Unless the board feels strongly that compensation is necessary, members serve without pay.

Term of Board Members

Once a Board has functioned for more than one year, it is appropriate to discuss term of membership. Three years often works well for terms of service, with a required break in service of at least one year before being eligible for reelection. If a break in service is required, terms can be staggered so that approximately 1/3 of the members' terms expire in any one year.

Confidentiality

It is preferable not to impose a requirement of confidentiality on board members. The very nature of the process is sensitive, and unless members are mature enough to be discrete, they will likely violate any condition of confidentiality. Further, there are benefits to giving board members the option to share board matters and concerns with others, such as their own spouse.

However, the ultimate decision on confidentiality should rest with the accountee.

Membership on Other Boards of Accountability

This process of personal accountability has an exciting tendency to multiply. Members of one board will choose to form their own boards and/or encourage others within their sphere of influence to do so. Therefore, membership on multiple boards is to be encouraged, within reasonable limits. However, it is best if no two boards of accountability are composed entirely of the same persons.

If you wish to consider forming your own board of accountability, you can obtain further information on this process from CSM.

[Author's Note: Because this article is excerpted from the book and other materials that I am presently writing, please do not copy it from this newsletter. If you wish to have one or more copies, just write us or call the CSM office. We have reproduced this article in its entirety and it is available for the cost of handling and mailing ($1.00).]

---
© copyright 1997 by Christian Stewardship Ministries. Any portion of the Principles in Practice articles may be downloaded, quoted or reproduced without further permission, provided excerpts are in context, by adding the following credit line: "Reprinted from Christian Stewardship Ministries' Principles in Practice, Fairfax, Virginia," and furnishing a copy to CSM, 10523 Main Street, Fairfax, Virginia 22030
(703) 591-5000.