I’ve found it helpful recently to put down in words my view
of church discipline. After 15 years in
pastoral ministry this continues to be a thorny topic, to think through
biblically and carefully.
Church discipline is…
1. Necessary
The Reformers tended to call church discipline the third
mark of church. If you don’t have it, denominations
and churches will “slouch toward Gomorrah,” as Robert Bork put it. Another apt analogy is that the lack of discipline
is like a body with AIDS. You can’t
fight off disease and infection without white blood cells, and you can’t stay
faithful, and keep worldliness out of the church, without some exercise of church
discipline (1 Cor. 5:6). Many see the
very act of church discipline as antithetical to the Gospel, and cruel and unusual punishment, but done correctly it
is an act of love.
2. … not just ex-communication
Most people think only of the negative side when they think
of discipline.
But there is a positive side. It happens when –
- you notice everyone
around you at church singing a little more robustly than you tend to, so you
sing louder, too
- you see a father
diligent to correct his children when the church is worshiping or fellowshipping,
and it convicts you to be more diligent in your own parenting.
- you hear a church
member pray fervently, and it prompts you to deepen your own prayer life.
We vastly underestimate this positive side of discipline! Discipleship is closely related to
discipline.
But formal church discipline refers to leadership barring a member from receiving the Lord's Supper for a time (suspension), or indefinitely (excommunication). The point is to declare that the member is clearly and egregiously acting as an unbeliever, so the church declares them to be so. Even if they protest otherwise.
3. …relationship-rich, ideally
The above positive discipleship aspect of discipline assumes that you are meeting regularly with a
group of believers you think you can learn and grow from being a part of. You have to make yourself known, and seek to
know others. This is awkward, and we’re
not very good at it. Much grace is
needed with each other. The whole world seems
to be running the other way, to more isolation.
Even shopping and pursuing hobbies happen online now. This only began in human history 10-20 years
ago, and it is, frankly, weird and dehumanizing. The church must be a place where we know each
other incarnationally. In person. Some of us re-learned this during Covid.
The more relationship-rich the context, the easier it is to accept criticism. Few receive criticism well, and fewer yet know how to deliver it gracefully. I don't even claim to be one of those. But if we know and trust each other, we should be able to hear each other's constructive criticisms.
One of the greater challenges of church leadership in this
area, is what to do with people who stop coming to church. There’s no more relationship there, which
makes conversation, admonition, and discipline harder. As Christians, one way to honor our church
leaders is to make sure that we can give glad submission to their
accountability. If you cannot, for some
reason, a conversation is needed. Very
often, people won’t meet with their leaders, because it is just too awkward to
sit down and say, “I disagree with you on this or that, so I can’t trust you to
discipline me rightly.” Instead, people often just leave, or make up some other reason why they are going somewhere else. This is not honest, and it honors your church leaders most, to depart from them for a place where you CAN submit
to leadership, and tell them why. More on this below, under
Divisive.
4. …repentance-dependent
(2 Cor. 7:10-12)
Demonstrated repentance requires a fairly close relationship
to discern. The offender needs to be
willing to express it, and act on it.
True and deep repentance will be clear and obvious (2 Cor. 7:10-11). Sincere but stumbling efforts at repentance
are less obviously true, and can look like a counterfeit. But leaders need to not be too skeptical that
repentance is real, based on the egregiousness of the sin, or on the history of
the offender. Give it time. But don’t keep a member barred from the table for
months if they have expressed repentance and you’ve seen some real change, just to “make
sure.” This is the same error as the
credo-baptist who won’t baptize the kids until they are 16 or 21, to “make
sure.”
5. … time-sensitive
– patient, but urgent
When a 2-year-old sins, it does little good for mom to say, “Just
wait until your father comes home.”
Often Christians who want to be gracious, and not appear strict or
harsh, will wait too long to confront someone about a problem, or let the
process of discipline drag on too long. Formal
church leadership can do this, too. “Hey,
just giving you a call. You haven’t been
in church for a year.” Should have asked
9 months ago!
On the other side of the spectrum, leadership can act out of
indignation or offense, and act too quickly, when it is not necessary to do
so. Patience is critical, but timely
responses are, too. I’ve noticed that negative
spiritual choices or developments often happen much more rapidly in a person than
church leadership meets to consider them.
If a pastor isn’t staying in touch and on top of things, it quickly gets
beyond remedy. (This is not to say that
all spiritual shipwrecks can be avoided if leadership is faithful in working
against it.)
5a. … sometimes
should be immediate
There are times when sin that requires discipline is public
and scandalous, and requires immediate action.
Scandalous is a rather vague adjective, so care is needed here. But if
- a church leader’s
adultery, abuse, or heresy is plain and public, then leadership ought not wait
6 months to work through a 5-step process before taking action to remove him.
- a member comes out
proudly on Facebook, embracing sexual immorality, then rather immediate
suspension from the Lord’s Table is warranted (not required – this is a
judgment call of leadership), in conjunction with reaching out to the person. I lean toward waiting for a response from the
person, but if the issue is well known, obvious sin, and people are wondering if
leadership is fine with it, action is needed.
6. … communication-rich
When parents discipline their children, they need to explain
why, age-appropriately. It’s the same
for church discipline. Elders should
quickly and clearly communicate to people the concerns they have regarding
them, and any steps they are taking.
This should happen at every step of the process, right up to the last. Give a full description of the sin, with
Scripture references, and what it would look like to turn away from it.
What often happens instead is that the elders shake their
heads together at the benighted member without relaying their concerns
adequately to the person. Or maybe the
member fears what the elders are going to do, so the member just bolts for the
exit. If we would stay and talk to each
other, we could learn much from each other.
But we often hold back, either because trust has been lost, or because
we are afraid of what the response from the other side will be. I’ve heard this more than once, from church leaders: we didn’t communicate our concern to them, because we feared their
response would escalate the situation. Or
from members: we were sure the elders wouldn’t understand or listen. Elders can wrongly hold back communication in
various ways, to avoid a negative response.
Members can wrongly hold back communication in various ways, like not relaying
how bad their situation really is.
7. … divisive
This one is the most discouraging, in my experience. When people dispute the discipline their
church gives them, it often spills out into the rest of the church. It’s very easy to believe these days, that
leaders have been harsh or abusive! And
maybe they have been. It’s very important to
have multiple leaders in place to check any one leader who might go off the
rails. And we need procedures in place
to appeal such things, to deal with that.
Sometimes what comes into play, for members under
discipline, is history. “This is OUR
church, and MY church needs to see it my way – to vindicate me, not correct me. And if the leaders won’t, then I’ll get MY
people to side with me.” This is
dangerous, and a divisive man should be warned, then rejected (Titus 3:10).
8. ... meant only for high-handed, egregious sin
If my friend goes to a casino to meet a friend for dinner, many strict believers would call that an appearance of evil, or outright sin. A church should not excommunicate someone for such questionable matters. If a Session asks a member to do a small thing, and they refuse, excommunication is not the proper response. Many tight-shoed leaders in my circles emphasize this truth: church discipline is always for contumacy (stubborn refusal) against the leaders. While that is true, it doesn't mean that any act of contumacy requires discipline, to preserve the authority of the Session. Nor does any strong disagreement, or personality clash, or personal conflict, or act of refusal to a Session, always rise to a level to warrant discipline. Many times the best response is to agree to disagree, or to part amicably, instead of having the church declare a person unregenerate and outside of Christ.
9. … aimed at
restoration (Philemon 12; 2 Cor. 2:7)
Discipline in the civil realm is often needed simply to do
justice, or to restore what was wrongfully taken. But if we stop there, in the church, we have
lost sight of the bigger goal. Jesus
underwent the discipline of the Father on the cross for a greater purpose: to restore
fellowship and reconciliation of us sinners with God. When true repentance is obvious, affirmation
and forgiveness should be quickly extended.
So when church leaders need to pursue members in discipline,
they do so wisely when they always provide a path back to righteousness (2 Cor.
7:8-9). Instead of simply rebuking
people for their errors, it’s important to show them specifically the right way
to go. Encourage them to take it. And let them know there will be celebration
and rejoicing on behalf of the whole church, if they do so.
With no shame or condemnation whatsoever.
Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring
on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted
calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this
my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ (Luke 15:22-24).
A Berean's Response to the Social Justice Gospel by Daniel Phillip Knapp II
