James 5:16 says,

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Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much (NAS).

But in context it doesn't support the public confession of private sins. Rather it refers to sickness caused by sin in which repentance calls for apology, forgiveness, and prayer.

In a small group it's easy to get a sense of false intimacy, and in some small groups I was in, we were encouraged to "confess our sins" to the group "for healing." But the Bible is not talking about some sort of "group therapy session" here. All those "confessions" became a means for people to vicariously participate in the sins of others. Almost like,
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ooO0Ooo, then what happened? Tell us more!
but not quite that blunt.

Confessing our shortcomings and faults to trusted friends is one thing. Accountability to one or two very close, trusted people for the purpose of mutual discipleship is one thing. Confession of sins before a group is quite another! It quickly turns to gossip, it provokes harmful speculation, it destroys trust, it multiplies sin by contagion.

I was in two such small groups, and the damage done to people who engage in that stuff is immeasurable. It's the reason I haven't chimed in on this thread until now, and I hesitate even now to write much further on the subject because of the subdued pain and residual anger that remain even now. The false intimacy that is fostered by confessing sins to the group is inevitably and unavoidably exploited, misused, and very harmful.

-R