The Covenant Eyes Podcast team recently sat down with Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church and president of Acts 29. They talked with Pastor Matt about his recent leave of absence from ministry, what he’s learned about accountability, and the importance of being fully known.
You can listen to the whole interview right here or watch the video. Below are some key takeaways from the candid discussion with Pastor Matt.
Stepping Away From Ministry
In August 2022, Pastor Matt Chandler made national headlines when it was announced he was stepping away from ministry because of an inappropriate online relationship with a woman from his church. He made it clear he wasn’t having an affair or doing anything sexual:
“I didn’t think it was inappropriate. My wife knew about it. Her husband knew about it. There wasn’t anything sexual being exchanged or even on the level of an emotional affair. It was just kind of silly, stupid banter from gifs to just chatter.”
Nonetheless, it caused a significant stir. The leadership of his church deemed that his actions were both unwise and unfitting for someone in his role as a pastor. So they advised him to step away from his role as the pastor for an indeterminate amount of time. Matt explained the process he went through with the leaders and their conclusion:
“[They said] it’s that you’re not disqualified from ministry by any stretch of the imagination. But we do think it’s serious enough that we want to give you a leave of absence.”
So he followed their counsel and took a three-month leave of absence from his pastoral role.
Accountability for Those in Ministry
At Covenant Eyes, we talk about the importance of accountability for overcoming temptations like pornography. Pastor Matt talked about the role that Covenant Eyes plays in keeping him accountable for staying porn-free. But he also emphasized the importance of accountability that goes beyond pornography. In ministry especially, accountability means a high level of openness and transparency. That’s why he submitted himself to the accountability and oversight of the leaders at his church.
“I think if they weren’t men of God and they didn’t love me and they didn’t love the truth and that we wouldn’t have had peace … I probably would have fought, but these are good, godly men who have a long track record of being good, godly men.”
For Pastor Matt, accountability to his leadership team meant exposing his life and ministry to public scrutiny, accusation, and speculation. He went on to explain that accountability must be grace-filled, even for pastors and ministry leaders. Too often, the world is quick to assume the worst.
“The majority of the [pastors] I know are or are just doing the best they can to fulfill their calling, to love the people of God and to be faithful to the Scriptures.”
Pastors especially need grace-filled accountability to keep them on track in the challenges of ministry. They need people who will hold their feet to the fire without assuming the worst. They need people who will speak the truth in love without judging.
“It’s not grace without accountability, it’s grace in accountability … The benefit of the doubt means not all pastors are liars and manipulators and about power and abusing their power.”
Accountability in the 1% Areas of Life
We often hear stories of pastors and ministry leaders who fall into pornography addiction or other sins because they have no accountability in place. This wasn’t the case for Pastor Matt. He did have accountability in place: “I have Covenant Eyes. I let people see what I do on my Instagram,” he explained.
But even though Pastor Matt wasn’t keeping secrets, he still had blind spots and areas of his life where he needed greater transparency. Having Covenant Eyes is only the beginning of being accountable. To be fully accountable, you need to diligently seek out areas of vulnerability and open these up to other people. Pastor Matt went on: “The way that the enemy will seek to destroy and devour me probably isn’t going to come through the door that I’m staring at.”
He explained that real accountability includes the “1% areas of life”:
“One of the phrases that we use all the time to see is to be 99% known is actually to be unknown. If there’s like a 1% that’s just yours, then the truth is you’re not really known. And it’s really hard to receive love or grace or have a deep relationship with anyone, including the Lord, if you’ve got this 1%, that’s just yours… If they only knew this 1%, if they only knew this 1%, then they wouldn’t love me like that. The importance of complete vulnerability and accountability, I think is paramount even to our capacity to experience life deeply.”
