Church Discipline

Recently, I wrote a series of newsletter articles for the church I serve on the subject of church discipline gleaning information and perspectives from several resources, primarily the scriptures.

Over the next several days, they will be posted here on the blog. I pray that they will be helpful and encouraging.

So, here's the first:

On Sunday, June 13, we studied Matthew 18 in our Sunday morning gathering time concerning Jesus’ teaching on the subject of church discipline.

We were only able to scratch the surface on this subject and begin the journey toward a healthy view of church discipline for our church.

Over the next several weeks in our Forerunner, we are going to continue that discussion on church discipline. 

Each week, we’ll go a little bit deeper into the subject praying that we will grow in our understanding toward a healthy view of church discipline.

Let’s do a little review this week beginning with a definition of sorts.

The restorative & redemptive process of church discipline is the mediatorial work of God’s grace through the members of the church to help encourage brothers & sisters in Christ to remain faithful & if necessary to bring a straying brother/sister back on track before he/she crosses the line because of love for that brother/sister who is on a path to destruction. This mediatorial work of God’s grace is put in place to protect & guard the church.

There are two forms of discipline: formative discipline and corrective discipline.

Formative discipline is the process of building into one’s life through routines and habits those things that encourage godly living. This is usually what we call discipleship.

Corrective discipline is the form of discipline that seeks to correct when one gets out of line; it is to restore someone who has fallen into sin.

The major passages of scripture that deal with this subject are Matthew 18:15-20, 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, and Galatians 6:1-2. There are a host of others, but these are primary.

Matthew 18 provides the general process of church discipline for churches to follow. First, there is a private meeting with the offending person. Then, there is a small group, two or three, meeting with the brother/sister. If the person is not reconciled at this point, the matter is made known to the church for the purpose of exhorting that brother/sister to confession and repentance and then restoration. If the person refuses to listen to the church body, that person is to be treated as if they are lost since that is the lifestyle they are living in.

The goal in all this loving confrontation is restoration, to restore the straying brother/sister to the fellowship of the body for their protection and good (cf. James 5:19-20).

Next week, we’ll look at the biblical purposes of church discipline and why it is necessary for us to practice it rightly.