ACCOUNTABILITY
GROUP
EXPERIENCE
Here is a simple format for how
you can be in an accountability group for the purpose of spiritual growth,
Christlikeness and being victorious over sin.
1. Ask the Lord to lead you
to 1-3 people of the same sex.
2. Ask them to pray about being in an
accountability group for spiritual growth using a series of questions that are
answered honestly each week. (These groups are NOT dependent on gifted
leaders/teachers, but someone needs to take responsibility for moving the group
through the accountability questions or you'll talk knitting or basketball or
stay on one question for too long.)
3. Meet once a week for 1 or 1 1/2
hours. It's best to set a limit on your meeting time so you don't burn people
out, and to meet the same time each week. Early mornings seem to work best for
men.
4. It's good to get together at other times for other activities to
deepen your relationships.
5. When the group has numbered four people
for six months, commit to sending off one or two of you to start another group
so the accountability group benefits are spread to more people. People can
"hide" in larger groups so it's best to keep the groups small. These groups are
highly accountable, flexible, and reproductive.
6. Group members
should agree to read the same portion of Scripture each week, moving through the
Bible at a mutually agreed pace. However, the Scripture is NOT your focus of
conversation; the accountability questions are. Limit any discussion of other
subjects to before or after your meeting or you'll soon abandon the group
because it wasn't accomplishing its purpose. The same goes for prayer and
sharing prayer requests. Group members should pray for one another AND for one
unsaved friend, our church/city, but LIMIT your time on these. You are meeting
PRIMARILY to answer the questions.
7. Contact Pastor's Rick, Gil Goodwin,
or Lisbeth Stanford if you have more questions. Obviously, staff/elders can't
start all the groups we need, so we depend on you to start these groups that are
very simple yet SO beneficial.
8. KEEP IT IN THE GROUP! Breaking
confidences kills groups, hurts people, and destroys intimacy and
trust.
HERE ARE THE ACCOUNTABILITY
QUESTIONS
Feel free to modify them somewhat, but if too much, then
you may be moving away from an area you need to grow.
1. Have you been a
testimony this week to the supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ with both your
words and actions?
2. Have you been in a compromising situation with a
member of the opposite sex anywhere this past week, or been exposed to sexually
explicit material?
3. Have you lacked any integrity in your financial
dealings, or coveted something that does not belong to you?
4. Have
you lived with your wife/husband in an understanding way and been proactive in
your child's development?
5. Have you damaged another person by your
words, either behind their back or face to face?
6. Have you succumbed to
a personal addiction? Explain:
7. Have you continued to remain angry
toward another?
8. Have you secretly wished for another's misfortune so
that you might excel?
9. (Create a question you NEED to be asked;
HERE)
10. Have you just lied to me?
"Therefore, confess your sins
to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed."
James 5:16