Pillar 3- Ongoing Accountability
...the discipline of the movement.
John Wesley, the mastermind behind Methodism, helped steward a movement marked by intense spiritual devotion and unshakable discipline that radically impacted both individuals and the broader culture.
His legacy went far beyond sermons.
It was an organized revival that demanded personal holiness, continuous education, clear rules for ministry, ongoing accountability, and fearless expansion.
1. Personal Holiness
Wesley understood the importance of holiness and called every Christian to grow in sanctification, encouraging transformation through spiritual practices like prayer, fasting, and studying the Scriptures. But Wesley didn’t stop there.
He also organized class meetings and band meetings—small groups of people who met regularly to share personal struggles, confess sin, and encourage one another in the Lord.
Imagine the power of a church where no one hides from accountability or avoids spiritual growth.
Action Point- Start or join a small group that goes beyond studying the Bible and moves toward ongoing accountability. Make spiritual growth a group effort!
2. Continuous Education
Wesley knew that effective leaders also required ongoing education. He didn’t just train them once and send them off. He required continuous study, challenging leaders to read widely—Scripture, philosophy, even classics—sharpening their minds alongside their spirits.
Wesley published pamphlets and his famous Methodist Discipline to keep people growing in wisdom and character.
This was a lifelong calling to deepen the well of knowledge and spiritual maturity among his people.
Action Point- Make learning part of your daily or weekly routine and dive into books and resources that will deepen your faith.
3. Rules for Ministry
For Wesley, effective leadership started with clear rules and expectations. The Methodist Discipline became a bedrock for moral integrity and demanded that leaders practice what they preach.
Wesley didn’t let moral failure slide and removed leaders who didn’t meet these standards. The Discipline covered everything from organizing class meetings to engaging in charitable work, leaving no stone unturned in building effective, holy leaders.
Action Point- Don’t compromise the personal standards that align with your faith. Make integrity and character the foundation of your daily life.
4. Ongoing Accountability
In Wesley’s world, accountability was non-negotiable.
He built a movement where everyone, including leaders, could give and receive correction, advice, and encouragement. Wesley’s smaller band meetings and even class meetings were designed for members to openly share their struggles and receive mutual support.
When was the last time you allowed someone to really hold you accountable in your walk with God?
Action Point- Make honesty, openness, and mutual correction core values, and invite a few trusted people to walk closely with you in an accountability group focusing on personal holiness.
5. Fearless Expansion
Wesley rode over 250,000 miles on horseback, preaching and establishing new societies. His circuit riders followed suit, facing harsh conditions to bring the gospel to every town and village. Wesley wasn’t just founding churches; he was spreading a message that changed lives.
How might we revive that same boldness by traveling beyond our comfort zones to reach new people?
Action Point- Make outreach a lifestyle. Start by reaching out in small, consistent ways—whether through conversations with neighbors, community volunteering, or local evangelism efforts.
Losing Pillar 3
As Methodism grew, it began to lose its soul to structures and tradition. This drift eventually caused a powerful movement to turn into a rigid institution, stripping away the accountability and fervor that made it once powerful.
When Methodism was institutionalized, the class meetings and band meetings that once held people accountable for their pursuit of holiness began to fade.
The centralizing of the movement into larger congregations and formal membership made Wesley’s intimate accountability nearly impossible.
People slipped back into spiritual isolation, and the fires of personal growth dimmed.
Ongoing accountability is not about following rules; it’s about investing in each other’s spiritual growth.
Many modern Bible studies focus on knowledge over transformation, and prayer groups often lean toward socializing instead of genuine support for personal holiness. The Wesleyan denomination needs a wake-up call—a return to intentional accountability that gets personal and demands change.
Without ongoing accountability, complacency seeped into the movement, urgency faded, and the denomination began to focus more on maintaining tradition. The drive for innovation that defined early Methodists dulled, leading to a decline in impact and relevance.
Restoring Pillar 3
The Wesleyan Church can reclaim its vibrant, missional roots. But it will take a reformation of accountability in leadership. Here’s what it could take to bring ongoing accountability back to the movement.
Connection-Based Accountability
What might it look like for leaders to find greater accountability with their peers and members of their congregation and not simply be answerable to their “superiors".
Picture leaders meeting regularly in accountability groups to discuss ministry results like baptisms, spiritual growth, and community impact. Imagine a culture of leadership that celebrates success and tackles challenges head-on.
In the same way that Jesus admonished the lazy steward, perhaps ramifications should exist for those not stewarding the mission.
Every leader does not have to be THE best but ought to give their best! Here are a few possible examples of connection-based accountability.
Regular Accountability Groups- Leaders could regularly share their spiritual and leadership struggles and get feedback on ministry outcomes.
Results-Based Accountability- Leaders could be assessed on tangible outcomes in ministry and whether they are making a real difference in the lives of their people.
Mentorship and Peer Evaluation- Leaders could have a mentor for guidance and support, fostering continual growth in holiness and effectiveness.
Annual Credential Renewal
A movement demands active leaders who reflect the holiness they preach. It may be time to make credentialing an annual renewal rather than a one-time award. Leaders could undergo yearly evaluations to ensure they’re active, engaged, and effective in ministry.
This may need to be more than an annual service report and could include placing people on probation and eventually losing their license if something doesn’t change.
Annual Evaluation- Assess leaders annually on their spiritual disciplines, ministry engagement, and personal growth.
Evidence of Gifts and Graces- Ensure leaders demonstrate the spiritual gifts and graces they preach, holding them to the highest standard.
Opportunities for Restoration- Leaders who struggle shouldn’t be discarded. Offer resources like counseling or sabbaticals to restore and re-energize them. Status quo is not an option though.
A Final Word
The Wesleyan Church can be a force of spiritual renewal.
By restructuring leadership around mutual accountability, real results, and mission-oriented credentialing, we can reclaim the spirit of ongoing accountability that was present in early Methodism. This isn’t about preserving a denomination. It’s about igniting a movement that spreads biblical holiness and transformation. Will you be part of it? Will you pursue personal holiness as Wesley did, seek ongoing accountability, and commit to a mission that extends beyond your comfort zone?
Reclaim the movement today. Make Wesley’s drive your own and watch the power of genuine faith transform your life and world.
Signed,
Dwight Nash, Christy Lipscomb, Meredith Griffin, Mike Wilson, Jervie Windom, Matt LeRoy, Jeremy Summers, Santes Beatty, Jon Wiest & Billy Wilson.
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I do appreciate these articles very much and they echo some of my concerns as a longtime member of the Family of God and the Wesleyan/Pilgrim Holiness Church. I do know and appreciate many of our present and past leaders of the church but as I have been impressed much recently, we The Church in our human desire to run things, which is not all bad and we have been commanded to be good stewards. But sometimes in our endeavors we can lose sight of our Main Purpose.
Great work here as usual in this series from "A Loyal Disruption." Some of what I loved most in this one was the very specific suggestions of how to re-arrange the role of accountability in our churches, and perhaps even in The Discipline of The Wesleyan Church. From my seat, it seems it wouldn't take long to refashion some of this into a memorial to GenCon.
I am not a Wesley scholar, so I have interest in one factor with the Methodist accountability systems. How did they resist the temptation in leadership to use these systems for protecting their own power and leadership station? The examples of some more recent megachurches that had robust accountability systems (usually only for the men) but that creeped into a practically totalitarian and strong-man approach to leadership are ringing in my ear (the most well known example is Mars Hill and Mark Driscoll). I have not heard stories of the DOWN SIDES of having such robust accountability systems and structures and relationships among the Methodists, all the stories I hear are from more modern situations (and usually among the Reformed folk, although as skeptical I am of TULIP, I don't think it is so bad as to CAUSE that problem on its own framework.)
So--are there researchers that have shown: Yes, this is great, this is essential to the Methodist renewal--however, there are down sides and we should look out for them and protect from them even in the systems themselves.