Being Accountable for Mutual Accountability

“John, you know we are to be accountable to each other” - I’ve been hearing about mutual-accountability throughout my adult life ... for me there have been times mutual-accountability has been an ongoing practice, other times a major point of resistance...

Thinking about “why the variance?” – it seems my experience would evidence greater consistency if I considered designs and models of others ... so recently have been ruminating on how some men and women in Scripture showed accountability to each other.

Here’s my thinking on and about how their accountabilities were designed and carried out . . .

The mutual accountability of David and Jonathan was designed through a real friendship with each other.
Their friendship rooted in the knowledge that each other’s relationship to the throne of Israel differed. Jonathon, Saul’s son as firstborn was heir apparent; David, called by God through Samuel, heir on the basis of the anointing to kingship. The kingly-anointing once given to Saul later removed by God was placed on David within Saul’s continuing reign. These friends accountability was carried out through open-communication, protecting, and desiring the best for each other. Their immediate was governed by commitment to a longer-term vision of each other’s responsibility within Israel.

Paul and the dynamic accountabilities of the “apostolic company” (as represented in the “we” passages of Acts) was designed around the mutuality of response to the Spirit.
Paul would share vision, revelation and plans; the apprehension of the Spirit’s voice in each instance by the “company” was the amalgam of Paul’s leadership, the Spirit voice and the community’s conviction. Their accountabilities were demonstrated through their supportive missional-involvement.

The accountability relationship of Esther and Mordecai was primarily designed around the capacity to understand or receive wise counsel.
The secondary feature of their daring mutual support emerged as they faced the “courage challenges” of pursing chosen courses of action based on their response to counsel.

Paul and Jerusalem Elders/Apostles, (including Barnabas) enjoyed a clear and relational understanding of the differing giftedness and callings of all the parties, which formed a converging centre of accountability.
Their accountabilities to each other included a broad range of methods and contexts; meetings, reporting, conferring in collegial counsel, written, and verbal interactions all formed part of how accountability functioned.

These Scriptural women and men in leadership evidenced a range of common factors, operational diversity in mutual accountability. They model capable functioning in a variety of contexts and methods through such values and attitudes as . . .

• Mutual understandings of God’s call,
• Diversity of giftedness,
• Genuine respect and committed friendships,
• Healthy accountabilities can rise above context,
• Collegiality in exploring vision, its’ interpretation and application;
• Joint recognition of the Spirit’s voice and Divine wisdom,
• The freedom to challenge,
• Accounting for one’s actions to others, and
• Receiving and giving correction without rejection.

"Now John, what are the values and attitudes to ensure your enjoying the blessings of ongoing mutual accountabilities?"

Being Human ... Image working on Likeness

Christmas is one of those times I ruminiate, refocus and remember Jesus is “God in the flesh”. It’s a seasonal celebration of God coming to us in human form. What is a human? I allege I’m a human, and assume that you are also. Some days we produce enough evidence to prove we are human, some days too much!

The Jesus who comes to us in humanity existed before he arrived among us . . .

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

As God, Jesus became a human. Again, “what is a human?” Page one of “the Book” reads . . .

God said, "Let us make humans in our image, in our likeness” . . . so God created us humans in his own image, in their image God created us; male and female.

Humans are, “Divine creations who bear His image as moral, spiritual, creative, rational, relational and responsible”. All of us as human bear God’s image. Often marred, defaced but not so destroyed as it cannot be renewed through personal response of faith in Jesus. Good news, the human Jesus came to die and rise again for us to make “born-again faith” possible.

Hold it ... image is only half the “human equation”. There’s also likeness. “Divine likeness is our being compassionate, related to broader humanity, serving, grace-giving, incarnating truth through lifestyle” Growing in resemblance of the Divine likeness is the big challenge of being human.

As an image bearer, how am I working on likeness? Christ-likeness is God’s measure of true humanness ... its how the young church summed up Jesus as God in the flesh amongst them.

Spirituality … a Buzzword that won’t ever really buzz-off

I’ve been doing some “inside-head-thinking" … brain-buzzing … now a “think-dialogue” from me to/with you . . .

Our worlds have always had prevailing “buzz words”. They come, make a sound that gets attention – and then buzz off. Good riddance! But not all purported to be buzz-words are in fact so … neither should or even will they “buzz-off” at our wishful requests. Spirituality is a non-buzz-off, buzzword.

What does the word spirituality convey?

It is a “trans-religious word” you know. We live in a world abounding with spirituality and spiritualities. But note this, religions and faiths never effectively build their focal points from generalized definitions. Effective and living faith always demands faith-development growing from particularized and applied definition. For Christians and Christian churches, spirituality is vitally linked with the adjective, “Christian”. Christian Spirituality is a particularized spirituality. Some of the recent writers my eyes have read define it as:

“The conscious human response to God that is both personal and ecclesial.”

“… the quest for a fulfilled and authentic Christian existence, involving the bringing together of the fundamental ideas of Christianity and the whole experience of living on the basis of and within the Christian faith”.

“The spiritual renovation that comes from Jesus is nothing less than an invasion of natural human reality by a supernatural life from God”.

The essential aspects of these and other definitions of Christian spirituality are; the human soul and existence, being lived in a development and synergism of the life of God in Jesus Christ, which calls for personal and communal response as the conscious foundation for living within culture and society.

Oh, one more thought for your thinker … unlike generalized spirituality, Christian spirituality is not trans-religious, though it is trans-cultural.

Some things we read, read us

I like reading ... haven’t always, but it’s become part of lifestyle over the years. I read current stuff, technical stuff, amusing stuff, downright heavy-stuff and old stuff. Some of the old stuff doesn’t always seem old ... often it’s kinda new, well fresh. I’ve been reading some older stuff, real old, much older than me even. The writer is one Thomas A’ Kempis (1380-1471), who wrote one main book, and still in print. Some books you read as object, others read you ... A’ Kempis engages me in a dialogue.

“There are some people who are peaceful themselves and who also enjoy peace with others. There are some who neither have peace themselves nor who leave others in peace; they are irksome to others but more irksome to themselves. And there are still others who are peaceful themselves and who try to guide others back to peace. Yet, all the peace we have in this life must be rooted more in humble perseverance than in a lack of difficulties. The person who knows best how to continue on patiently will remain at peace better than anyone else. Such a person is a conqueror of themself and a master of the world, a friend of Christ and heaven's heir”.

In the way A’ Kempis dialogues with me I grasp that a good person and a peaceful person are not two different types of person, but a “concurrent person”. I can resonate between his words describing a peaceful person and a self-question; “have I ever been in the presence of a peaceful person?” … it gets a yes answer. What they brought into my life situations, was what was within them … reminds me of Jesus’ closing words … “peace I leave with you, my peace I give into you, totally unlike the world’s peace … so then, neither let your heart be troubled or afraid”. (DPV)

We will never be too old to pursue the quest of spiritual growth

A hallmark of Christian maturity is the pursuit of lifelong fruitful progress. Paul writing to the Philippians (3:113ff) uses satirical irony to summarize his motivational perspective to experience fullness of encounter with Jesus . . .

13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 15 All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

The challenge to Christians entering later lifestages is simply a call to quest . . . “hey, there’s more spiritual formation into the life, purpose and image of Christ than one has yet attained – so go after it”.

Christian spiritual quest’s the sign Christian maturity is pursuit, it’s attainment; it’s incarnation it’s never arrival.

Paul’s Philippian take is . . .

“If some folks think they’ve lived long enough and see differently to him on this one, that’s OK – I’m right, but it will take God to convince some folks otherwise. Therefore keep living out what you have already attained/incarnated . . . just keep growing through your pursuit of Jesus”.

Quest is good.

Remembrance is of greater value than Reminiscence

When Paul wrote to Timothy he encouraged him to remember what he had learned by reproducing it into the lives of others ... today we define this as "mentoring" ... remembering by reproducing ... grasping what was being learnt more than when it was learnt ...

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. – 2 Timothy 2:1-2

My father was born in 1895 and died in 1980, I recall over the years since his death many people telling me my dad was a “man’s man” . . . they had seen him in life, work, recreation, community and action … I had lived with him … what I think they were really seeking to express is – “he was a mentor’s mentor”.

He had two sons, I am the younger one - both my brother and I were amongst the men he mentored. These days we often reflect on our lessons learned, lived and passed onto others from him.


Now in our sixties, when we talk over life with our folks, the recall-focus is “more upon what was happening than when it happened” – that is the difference between remembrance and reminiscence.

THINK BEFORE YOU PRAY . . .

Our prayers grow, if we think them through before we put them out ... Oh, by the way - in thinking our prayers through . . . "best put your heart thorough your theology, before your head" . . .

Lord, though You live Your life inside of me, You can still feel at home in the “strange surroundings of me”. I remind myself, this is mystery, not mysterious … at least not to You. You still ask the question of who You are in the presence of Your disciples, that is; in me and those I serve amongst. Lord, while I know the answer is still the same; You are the Christ of God - yet You live in me and us. Help me to manage myself by knowing You aren’t looking over my shoulder, You are looking out of my heart … By Your presence, I am empowered, not threatened. Through fellowship with You I am socialized to engage in society with others. In our relationship I am managed to manage by Your grace, and by Your friendship with me, I am built to build others in the building up of Your body. AMEN