Hold Accountable ≠ Hold Hostage

"Hold people accountable!" is a rally cry when we recognize injustice done by another person or institution. We talk about holding politicians accountable to their actions by how we vote. We hold children accountable for their actions when they make a mistake. The criminal justice system talks about holding people accountable for their infractions. Holding another accountable is even present in the Church.

God holds the people accountable for their actions when the covenant is broken. Church leaders and church members hold one another accountable in doing the work of God. Pastors are held accountable to their Bishops and Bishops are held accountable to other Bishops. 

Ideally holding people accountable is a wonderful way to move into deeper relationship and health. However, too often we misunderstand what it means to hold someone accountable and instead hold them hostage. 

Holding someone accountable means at least three things: 

1. Non-threatening - In a hostage situation, threats are used in order to force the other party to participate in an action. Force by way of violence, threats, or expulsion are used in order to "get" the other person to act. Holding someone accountable means, at the very least, threats of violence (in all its forms) are not present. For example: If you do not like the way your pastor preaches and then threaten to withhold your donation until they change, you are holding your pastor hostage. However, if you do not like the way your pastor preaches and desire to hold them accountable for their action, see Jesus' teaching in Matthew 18.
2. Preservation of agency - In a hostage situation, the hostage does not have choice (agency) in the matter. The hostage taker may give false choices. They may say, "You can walk out that door if you want to! It is your choice!" but the hostage knows walking out the door means getting shot. Holding someone accountable means that the parties involved work to preserve one another's agency. If false choices are presented or if there is a clear power difference (the other has a gun and will shoot you if you leave), then you have a hostage situation not an accountable situation.
3. Trust maintained at all cost - Trust is the fuel to the engine of accountability. If there is no sense of trust between the parties, then every action will be met with suspicion. Part of the reason hostages are kept in sight or locked up is that the hostage taker does not trust the captives to remain. In Acts the jail is broken as the result of an earthquake but the prisoners chose to remain. They were in prison because the Romans did not trust them. When it was clear that Paul and his partner trusted God and remained in the newly opened cell, the guard was converted. Acts 16:25-35.

The UMC faces a situation where there is an expressed desire to hold someone accountable: Traditionalists want to hold local pastors accountable for breaking the Book of Discipline. My own jurisdiction wants to hold another jurisdiction accountable for the election of Bishop Oliveto. Progressives want to hold the church accountable to their understanding of the Kingdom of God. American churches want to hold Central Conferences accountable to pay apportionments; Central Conferences want to hold American churches accountable to their understanding of the Kingdom of God. It seems everyone wants to hold the Bishops accountable for a slew of reasons! The most recent group desiring to hold someone in the denomination accountable is the WCA's desire to hold those who violate church laws accountable for understood disobedience. 

We all invoke the accountability language because it is Biblical and mature. Frankly, humans are better at covenant-breaking then covenant-keeping (see the entire Bible for endless examples).

God holds us accountable, but God does not hold us hostage. In a twist of irony, the leading atonement theory for a millennia was rooted on the idea that God was willing to be taken hostage by the devil in order to trick the devil.

It is the evil one who takes hostages; God never has. 

Be alert to the ways you are being held hostage. Be vigilant to the ways the Church is being held hostage. Be joyful that God is not interested in holding us hostage.

Is the Desire for Accountability Accelerating the Erosion of Faith

Perhaps the number one asset a pastor has is trust. It is something that is developed over time and it is something that is non-transferable to another pastor or from one church to another. It is a precious source and it is why so many people wounds run deep when pastors violate trust. 

For reasons that I cannot fully understand a current buzzword in Church leadership is accountability. It is seen that because trust has been violated by some that we need to do what we can to reestablish trust within churches. Accountability measures are thought to be the answer. If we can hold people accountable to their actions then we will re-establish trust. 

I wonder if it is the accelerating the erosion of trust in our church and perhaps beyond. 

For instance, if I do not trust the people that work under me to do their work, then I may install software on their computer to block sites and monitor their activity.  However, if I trust my employees to tend to their tasks, then monitoring their internet usage could potentially hurt my relationship with my employees. While I may feel better so that I can hold my employees accountable, my employees now no longer trust me to trust them. My employees begin to resent that I no longer trust them and will, in turn, begin to ask how is the boss being held accountable to my work. The employees being to wonder if I the boss am wasting company time and will begin to resent that they are not trusted to do their work and the boss is without any accountability. Is it no wonder that one agency found that over 52% of employees do not trust their boss? (If you have access to The Office episode titled "Email Surveillance" then you can see this situation dramatized in a funny way.)

The cry for accountability, in my experience, seems to be an expression of a lack of trust. And because trust is difficult to gain and easy to lose it makes sense that we would want to find a shortcut to get to the place where we can all trust each other. Accountability measures are being pitched as something of a silver bullet to arrive at Trust. If we can hold one another accountable (i.e. exact punishment and rewards on people with data to back up the decision) then we will build trust faster - I know what you are doing and can see you are trustworthy and you know that you are being held accountable to me and thus you work to prove your trustworthiness. 

One of the understandings of the word Faith is trust. I have faith that the driver in the other lane will not veer into my lane - I trust the other driver. Christianity is a religion built on faith as trust. God trusts humans with creation care and humans trust God to provide for creation. Can you begin to see how it can be that if we do not trust our neighbor or employee without feeling like we have to hold them accountable then how could we learn to trust anything else? 

It just makes me wonder if accountability and trust are on two different sides of the spectrum. The more trust you have the less desire for accountability and the less trust you have the more desire you have for accountability. 

Is the Desire for Accountability Accelerating the Erosion of Faith?