Accountability & Boundaries

My first encounter with accountability as a Pastor happened while I was still in Seminary, that time of life when I knew it all (wink, wink). A group of leaders was discussing next steps for this small church and I brought up the subject of accountability in terms of "if you agree to do something then let's be accountable to one another for following through." One man shot back: "As soon as you start paying my bills I'll start being accountable to you!" The wind quickly went out of my sails.


Accountability gets a bad rap in our world today. There's a myriad of reasons:

• Politicians who blame everyone else for whatever is wrong
• Frivilous law suits because the injury can't be from being stupid
• An inability to admit failure or mistakes

What would you add to the list?

Accountability and boundaries go together. The things I'm not accountable for I need to stay away from. The things I am accountable for I need to own myself. If I do something stupid, own it. If it's not mine, don't try to fix it.

On a pool deck there are boundaries and accountabilities. When I'm part of the team on the turn end, for instance, during the distance races where we are counting, I am accountable for my lane and making sure the count is correct. I'm also accountable to the official on my right and left. Together we hold each other accountable. I'm not accountable for the official on the opposite end of the pool. I'm not accountable for the official in a lane not adjecent to me. There are boundaries.

Brenda, my coach, gave me some homework for July before we head to London. Here are the questions she's got me wrestling with dealing with accountability and boundaries.

1st - what am I accountable for at work?

This is a list that will include: sermons, staff meetings, reports, etc....The second piece is to rank them as far as both passion and importance.

2nd - who am I accountable to and who am I accountable for?

She wants me to write down names then do the same thing with passion and importance. How passionate am I in talking with a person, listening to someone, in seeing them grow, etc...

3rd - what is stopping me from being accountable?

The first two were tough but this one takes it a step further, a good step, to deeper heart work. What are my fear? Who am I blaming? What is my comfort zone? Where am I more comfortable in DOING versus BEING.

   This DOING versus BEING stuff is becoming more and more important this summer. I'm paying attention to it because God is surrounding me with it. I had some conversations with a couple of swim officials this week about it. I'm reading about it. And Brenda brings it up!

Then she said: "I want you to stop using the word 'BUT.' 'BUT' keeps you from being accountable."

For instance, I shared a conversation where I thought I stayed in some boundaries and heard the hurt that those boundaries caused someone else but refused to own that hurt. But I said the word "BUT" and it ruined the whole thing. "I'm sorry you are hurt, BUT....." and then some explanation of why. Too many words according to Brenda. Stop before the "BUT."

4th - attitude - how does attitude have anything to do with accountability?

This wraps right back into the passion part from the 1st point. When I get pissed off, how does that interfere with being accountable? Do I ignore boundaries at that point?

So that's my homework for July.

What are you accountable for? Where do you try to own someone else's accountability? Do you blame others instead of owning your choices - even if they're stupid!!

We will all be held accountable for at least one thing - our response to this question: "Who is Jesus to me?" It doesn't matter what someone else thinks about Jesus. It doesn't matter how many hypocrites you've observed. What matters is your personal response to Jesus.

Mark 8:27-29 "Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

²⁸ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” 
²⁹ “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”