How do I find accountability for myself?
Pastors, missionaries, and pastoral staff are particularly vulnerable to sexual sin. Some ministry positions offer the perfect environment for sexual sin to develop:
 | long stretches of time alone with little or no accountability; | ||||||
| little or no accountability for pursuing regular times of personal prayer, worship, and Bible study; | ||||||
| distance from one's closest family members and loved ones; | ||||||
| few or no close friends with whom one can share personal struggles; | ||||||
| being respected and lifted up in the minds of others (or in one's own mind) to a higher spiritual level than everyone else; | ||||||
| and continuous demands and
opportunities which encourage a husband to postpone developing his marriage in
order to pursue more concrete ministry goals.
This environment becomes explosive
when other factors are added:
It is very easy for any pastor, missionary or pastoral staff member, given enough time in these conditions, to be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:13) |
The most effective accountability to a pastor, missionary or pastoral staff member, therefore, will be one that develops accountability within the context of a close, personal relationship. How does this happen? Here are some options:
- The most effective method we have seen to gain this type of relationship is to pray for it. In asking the Lord for a close, confidential relationship with another pastor and waiting for Him to indicate with whom that may be, two pastors develop a friendship and, within that context, share accountability issues covering a number of areas, including sexual purity.
- In urgent situations or ones in which this type of relationship is unavailable or unlikely, our staff members have made themselves available and developed confidential, one-on-one accountability relationships by e-mail, regular mail or phone with pastors and others in full-time ministry.
- In Northeast Atlanta and Northeast Georgia, there are pastors and missionaries who are willing to be confidential, mutual accountability partners with another pastor or missionary. We have put some of these in contact with one another, either allowing them to pursue the relationship themselves or by guiding a first-time face-to-face meeting.
If, as someone in part-time or full-time ministry, you are interested in developing a one-to-one accountability relationship along these lines, contact us at landfmin4@juno.com.
| What percentage of men in my congregation struggle with this sin? |
| How do I minister to someone struggling with sexual sin? |
| How do I preach or teach on this issue in my church? |