What is Church Discipline?

Church discipline sounds rough, but it is a command from Christ. According to Matthew 18:15-19, Christians are commanded to lovingly confront each other when one commits sin. You can read for yourself the exact process Jesus commanded us to follow. Church discipline has been a part of churches for centuries. In fact, our own church has records dating back to the 1800's where church discipline was carried out in monthly business meetings. The key to remember in all of this is that the goal of church discipline is to help a brother or sister in Christ come back to a right relationship with Jesus.

What does this have to do with church membership?

Church discipline encompasses all sin in the church. One of the biggest and most obvious areas of sin in many older churches is the area of church membership. The Bible makes it quite clear that regular church membership was and is part of the church. In Acts 2, we read that the early church met together on a regular basis. In Romans 16 and Philemon we read of various churches that met in people's homes. In I Corinthians 5, Paul commanded the church to exclude a certain man from the fellowship. How could they exclude him from the fellowship if they didn't regularly meet and know who was part of the fellowship? The Bible refers to the church as both the bride and body of Christ (Ephesians 6 and I Corinthians 12). It is clear that the church was very important to Christ. Unfortunately, many churches have grown lax concerning their members. First Baptist Rutherford has a membership roll almost three times more then the average number of people attending on a Sunday morning. Many people haven't been to church in years. Church discipline is employed here to come alongside these members who are sinning by not being a part of the church they joined, and seeking to restore their relationship to Christ and the church. If they still choose not to be a part of the fellowship, they should be removed as members.

Why should someone be removed from the membership?

When a church member is allowed to sin and not be confronted, three things happen. First, the person sinning is led to believe his or her actions are OK. The church does not confront the sin and so people begin to assume that it is acceptable. Many church members who have not attended a church service in years have been led to think this is acceptable. I John 2:19 instructs a church to examine those that have left a church to see if they return, if they do not, it shows that they were never really a part of the church in the first place. It shows that these people were never really believers, and leaving them as members gives them a false sense of security. Second, when sin is not addressed in a church, the sin will grow. The sin will begin to affect the entire congregation. Is it any wonder that 75-90% of our young people leave the church after highschool? They have been led to believe that this action is perfectly accepteable. The church is reaping what it has sowed. Third, churches that don't deal with sin in the church present a terrible witness to the world. When the world sees church members who have absolutely nothing to do with the church of which they are members, they fail to understand the transforming power of the gospel. Why would God bless a church with new believers if the church failed to disciple other believers into fully committed followers of God?

What if some of these people never again go to church because of this?

We are commanded to obey God. What we must understand is that the church is God's, not ours. If we fail to obey Him, the church will slowly lose all relevance and cease to be a true church. Too many churches are more interested in making people feel good than in being obedient. We must simply be honest with people and tell what God's Word teaches. After that, we must pray that the Holy Spirit convicts. While we may worry that church discipline may offend some people, offending God by not obeying is the only alternative.

Are other churches doing this?

The Southern Baptist Convention is beginning to address this issue. Our denomination has a current membership of around 16 million people, but only about 6 million of those memebrs ever attend a service. Several other churches are returning to this biblical practice. there are several links in the right side bar to other people who are discussing this practice.

Won't our church be viewed negatively by the community?

We have been lulled into an incorrect view of the church and its relationship to the community. Historically, churches have been persecuted by the communities they were in. The church should never try to alienate itself from the community, but the church should never compromise obedience to God to keep relationships "good." Once a church goes down this path, it is well on its way to irrelavance in this world. This action may cause us to suffer, but wasn't Paul beaten for the gospel? Wasn't Peter imprisoned? Weren't Stephen and James and numerous others killed?

Is this absolutely necessary?

Around 90% of our churches have either plateaued or are declining. Many of our fastest growing churches are growing through transfer membership. In all honesty, only about 1% of our churches are growing by baptizing new believers. THIS SHOULD BE A WAKE UP CALL TO ALL OF US! For far too long, we have tried to implement new strategies to reach people that are nothing more than man's ideas. If we want to see God work, we must take up our cross and follow Him.  We must once again reach out to people with the truth and know that we might suffer in the process.