The Plurality Principle by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL074000/REL108030/REL014000
Publisher: Crossway
Published: 2021-03-16T00:00:00+00:00

* From Ken Sande, “Approachability: The Passport to Real Ministry and Leadership,” Relational Wisdom 360 (blog), July 21, 2014, https://rw360.org/2014/07/21/approachability-passport-real-ministry-leadership/.

Finally, accountability requires a defined process of appeal. By appeal, I mean that the plurality agrees up front on the process for involving a third party if they enter into a conflict. An appeal recognizes that accountability is hard and sometimes needs help. Maybe the experience of fellowship breaks down due to a conflict that can’t be resolved, or maybe one person in the group feels permanently tagged by something he’s confessed. Maybe it’s something more serious: you seem to be caught in sin and the group feels unable to help, or your wife feels trapped by some pattern of behavior you’re exercising in the home and just doesn’t know what to do. This is where there’s value in including a defined appeal as part of the structure of your accountability even before you start.

To have a clear appeal, you must say, “We are agreeing that a plea for help may be necessary, and we are defining the person or group to whom we will appeal.” Having an appeal says that seeking outside help is not betrayal or slander. No, it’s sometimes necessary when sinners are trying to help each other.

Elders are human beings. Recognizing the need for outside help is just a way for an eldership to express their interdependence and open doors for discussion on their judgments. In a highly charged situation where the congregation or outside critics are vocal and polarizing, elders may feel political pressures to evaluate a struggling elder with less objectivity. If many elders feel the same pressure, the deck can be stacked against the accused elder.

Over the years, I’ve spoken with numerous pastors like Kyle—the lead pastor mentioned in the introduction who lived under a cloud of disapproval—guys who felt like they were scapegoated through accountability processes. They felt their job was sacrificed to appease some interest group inside or outside the church. Maybe that’s how things rolled; maybe they were not as innocent as they thought. But one thing is certain: where there’s a defined appeal process, one group humbly allows its judgments to be weighed by another. Whether through mature leaders in the church, a respected network or denominational representative, or just a statured outside leader who knows the team, an appeal process defined in advance and a shared willingness to submit to it when the time comes to display humility, elevate trust, and help to suspend suspicion that the accountability process has a predetermined conclusion.

Having a defined way of appeal protects leaders and protects others from broken leaders. By agreeing to a process, the team members commit up front that they will not allow their lives, marriages, or homes to be closed systems—tightly controlled entities where they alone have access. No, even an elder’s wife can appeal to others for help if she feels it’s needed.

In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus’s journey home takes his ship past the island of the two Sirens.

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