Erik Lutz, a senior education writer for Accountable2You, sees at least one problem with fighting sin and temptation alone.
“If you’re being deceived, you don’t know you’re being deceived,” he says.
That’s one reason Accountable2You wants to help its users build Christ–honoring relationships where heart issues are addressed and true spiritual growth takes place. Recently, the Kentucky-based company has focused on partnering with local churches, the God–ordained place for such relationships to occur.
Through Accountable2You’s partnership program, churches can offer their members discounted access to the company’s software — which monitors device activity and sends real-time reports to a trusted accountability partner — and printed material. The company is also working on providing more specific materials geared toward helping the church create a culture of accountability.
Notably, Accountable2You strives to serve as a tool for the church — not as a replacement for it. The software is meant to help church members invest in each other’s lives.
The company believes that if people simply send weekly reports about their screen usage to an accountability partner, without engaging meaningfully outside of the software, that won’t lead to lasting change. There needs to be a relationship outside of the tool for effective accountability.
Lutz highlights this truth in Hebrews 10:24, which commands Christians to consider how to stir up others to love and good deeds.
“That requires knowing the other person and being able to speak into their life,” he says.
The common alternative, Lutz says, is for believers to try to fight sin on their own because they are afraid of reaching out to others for help. But this isn’t how Christians are called to live, Lutz says, citing Hebrews 3:12-13, where believers are commanded to encourage one another every day so that no one will be “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
Harry Walls, TMU’s campus pastor and vice president of student life, agrees. He says that growing in Christlikeness requires community.
“I cannot become who Christ intends me to be if I’m isolated,” Walls said. “I must be in biblical community, which means I am known and I know others. I am in a relational community that gives people the opportunity to observe me, and I enjoy enough trust in those relationships for people to be honest with me. A gift you cannot give yourself is perspective.”
Unfortunately, Accountable2You cofounder Ben Lawrence says that not all churches understand that these kinds of transparent relationships are for everyone.
“People assume that this software, or this book, or purity as a whole, really applies to a small segment that we know is struggling,” Lawrence says. Rather, he sees accountability as an every-member exercise — whether they are the ones being restored or the ones doing the restoring.
“It’s actually a Galatians 6:1 issue, where those who are spiritual in the church are to restore such a one,” he says.
Accountable2You hopes churches will see that accountability should be practiced by all its members as a spiritual discipline. Cofounder Alissa Lawrence, Ben’s wife, says, “We want the church to get excited about accountability and to promote it to families and individuals as a good thing,”
A good thing, and an essential one.
“Accountability in the church is essential for healthy growth as we minister to each other through heart-level relationships,” reads a blog post on Accountable2You’s website. “While each of us must watch ourselves, we should also seek to be transparent and answerable to others.
“We need all the help we can get in our fight against temptation and sin.”
Accountable2You, a program now used by more than 100,000 men, women, and children, is a corporate sponsor of The Master’s University. You can find the company’s free illustrated guide on living with integrity and learn more about the app at accountable2you.com.
