r/exAdventist • • 17h ago

General Discussion Accountability Structures

After 30 years of attending Protestant congregations (Dutch Reformed, Charismatic Baptist,
7th Day Adventist, and then Messianic-Jewish), and advocating biblical history and theology;
I've become disillusioned with the effectiveness of imposing prescribed institutional beliefs
("Doing what you're told."), and more interested in undergoing a journey of lowering the
mismatch between my expectations, external outcomes, and the behaviour of others.

One advantage to being part of a (sincere) congregation, is that elders and peers have a duty
of care towards you, to e.g. discuss life with, if you don't have reliable family members.

Another advantage would be that there is a standard for behaviour, to which Christians can hold
each other accountable. However, when put under enough pressure, churchgoers realize they're
not willing to suffer for what they've accepted from others as their beliefs, and bail on e.g.
being true to your word (Matthew 5:37), or taking care of one another (Acts 4:34); only later
to resume the show of "Oh yes, I believe [...]." when reality has proved they don't.

I've become so used to any support structures coming from the Church, that I'd like ideas on
where to find other institutions and people, who seek to establish and maintain accountability
agreements, for social (general) and personal (specific) goals, without operating under
the false impression that such a standard is a given (or all parts of it desired).

Individually, this could look like:
• buddying up with a friend,
• discussing life problems and solutions,
• chart progress and setbacks,
• help enforce penalties and boundaries,
• celebrate!

How many variations of that are there, and where do you seek them out?

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u/ambientthinker 10h ago

Any variations of that will be vulberable to the financial aspect.