Accountable Men Part I by Holly Spence

Accountable Men by Apostle Chuck Clayton is a short but powerful manuscript of the biblical pattern, for the development of people, for the work of the ministry. Apostle Chuck refers to these people as “Faithful Men and Women”.

The Apostle skillfully walks us through the blueprint of God’s plan for affective change, first, by helping us to understand that we as the people of God need changing. That changing is done by God through leaders in our local church.  Ephesians 4:11-12 “…And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ…”  This biblical principal foundation serves as the purpose of the book. As an Apostle, Apostle Chuck has left his footprint of the Apostolic for the world; this book through the identifications necessary to move toward the pattern of the New Testament church is quite clear. I believe this is why the book was written and necessary for the body of Christ.

This type of change requires “faith”. Galations 5:6 says “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.” I love how the Message bible translates this scripture. “What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.” 

The book allows us as the church to recognize our failures as it relates to the development of workers. The book points out four specific issues, the first being the ideology that the pastor does all the work. This traditional stand point was not taught but more implied. I lived with a perfect example of a servant leader, my grandfather, John William Ray, Jr. however, the traditional Baptist church I grew up in supported church workers but not disciples for the work of the ministry and definitely not as it relates to the ministry of the Word. Ministry of the word was reserved for those males that believed that God had called them to “The Ministry”. This typically was identified as just preaching.

The second problem identified in Accountable Men, is that often church leaders do not release their people to do ministry. In the less traditional churches there may be equipping but then once the equipping is completed there is no activation or opportunities given to exercise the tools or information learned in the equipping session(s). Apostle Chuck points out that this often occurs because the pastor is unwilling, he/she has fears or feels threaten in some way. I think if I poled ten people nine of the ten would agree that this type of behavior incited by a lack of confidence and insecurities. Apostle Chuck boldly declares this is all rooted in pride, which has been fostered from experiences of rejection, attacks and/ or abuse, which in turn has caused pastors or set ministry to build walls of “defense between themselves and their people”.

Another point of our failure as a church is the work of the ministry is the simple mindset that, most people don’t feel “it’s not their job…that’s the pastor’s job”. This carnal response is a direct violation to the scripture Ephesians 4:11-12 mentioned earlier.

The cycles of fear of failure, resisting the unknown, breaking old mindsets and becoming what Apostle Chuck refers to as “Another Man” is clearly defined with practical solutions that can be practiced by leaders and layman alike. This introduction marches us directly into the main theme and goal of the book finding “faithful men and women”.

This pivotal requirement for the work of the ministry leads to Apostle Chuck’s well known believed opinion that we as leaders, we should look for people that are “faithful” versus “able”. In the book he points out that; this primary criterion should be reexamined because faithfulness speaks more to the person’s character than ability. Dr I.V. Hilliard is also the student of this school that believes that faithful people, God can make able. While I do agree with this statement it does make for good dialogue to discuss faithfulness versus capacity. I think about one of my current assignments as Director of Communication, Marketing and Multi-media. While I do hold some ability to function well in this capacity, I know there is someone else more “able” in each of these areas. While this department may do well, will it ever reach greatness? If someone else’s capacity in this area is greater all of my “faithfulness” doesn’t supersede that.  However, Apostle Chuck makes the great point that God is more interested in the character of a person then their ability.

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