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Let me begin by saying that your definition of “Accountability Groups” (from here on, AGs) may differ from what I’m talking about here, and that’s okay. I’m just going to examine a particular aspect of AGs—one which much personal experience has led me to believe is pervasive in Evangelicalism today. But it may not be a part of your experience of AGs. So bear with me.
I used to meet weekly with a small group of men from our church who struggle with issues common to men. When I was introducing a new quarter, which saw the addition of a few fellows to the group, these were some comments I made:
I am not interested in fighting one sin by using another sin. What good is it to strengthen our pride in order to overpower our lust? Why would we want to use guilt or the fear of man to make progress in freedom and holiness? Will feeding the flesh in one area to starve it in another really bring us closer to God and godliness? These methods are not The Gospel Method, and if we preached them to each other, we are not servants of Christ (Gal. 1:8-10).
What in the world am I talking about, you ask? I’m talking about the tendency of people in AGs to prod each other toward apparent holiness by unbiblical, non-Christian, anti-Gospel methods. These methods are not just unhelpful, they’re actually harmful to true holiness.
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