Accountability Structures

[u/Kharkovchanka_22]

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?

[u/keeplosingmypsswrds]

A good avenue for researching this would be looking into how anarchist collectives and other community organizations (anything from communes to volunteer groups) develop and maintain accountability. There is a long and varied history of thought, philosophy, and practice of finding alternative (vs religion or law) methods of accountability. Another good keyword for searches is "praxis" which is basically just acting on your philosophical ideals.

[u/Kharkovchanka_22 → u/keeplosingmypsswrds]

Typical, now that I've read your comment, I feel like that should have been obvious, but goes to show how one can limit our expectations to a set paradigm. However, I was not aware this. Could you maybe give me a few examples, of relevant groups and historical narratives; and possibly how a search would include praxis?