Deliberate Church: Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – Doing Church Discipline

Formative and Corrective
Formative church discipline – how the church gets in shape, stays in shape, and grows (preaching, teaching, discipling, leading small groups, gathering for corporate worship)
Corrective church discipline – corrects something that’s gone wrong in the body so that more serious injury doesn’t result.

The Preventative Function of Accountability Relationships
“Bringing our sin into the light by confessing it in the context of personal accountability friendships helps to prevent the sins we struggle with now from becoming scandalous later.”

The Context
It is important to establish healthy member relationships before practicing corrective church discipline.
It is also important to have a plurality of elders to handle these situations together.

The Care List
A list of members who need special attention and prayer. It is wise to put a person on the care list at the members’ meeting prior to the one in which a disciplinary action is going to be taken. This gives the members time to personally reach out to the particular member and ask questions of the elders.

Removing a Member from the Rolls
If a member is unrepentant after being confronted with his or her sin, the church should vote to remove such a person from membership and treat them as they would an unbeliever (1 Cor. 5:9-13).

Conclusion (of the section)
“Doing this work now will ensure the structural integrity of the house decades later—and it will save you a bundle in repairs.”