Church Discipline

I'm preparing a message on church membership so I've been reading a lot about the subject. One of the articles was written by Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church in the Dallas area. Matt asks how can a church do church discipline if there is no membership? He says, "How can you kick someone 'out' if there isn't an 'in'?'"

That brings to mind two instances of church discipline I've been involved with as a pastor over the years. Both took their toll on the church's statistics: attendance and offerings plummeted. I had some who supported what we did and others who questioned the actions.

My question is this: Why do churches avoid church discipline? I think there are at least three reasons. First, they just simply don't know to do it or how to do it. Matthew 18:15-18 and 1 Corinthians 5:1-12 are two good sources of teaching on the topic. Clearly, Jesus commanded it and Paul endorsed it. Apparently, Paul even applied church discipline. Churches will be wise to learn what church discipline is and how to biblically apply it.

Another reason I believe churches avoid church discipline is that they don't want to offend anyone or create conflict. Christians are supposed to be loving and forgiving, aren't we? So rather than butt heads with the transgressor we just let it go. There's a difference between forgiving a repentant church member and ignoring the offense. Sometimes we equate forgiving a brother's sin and hoping it just goes away. Rather than risk offending a brother we neglect our responsibility. Onlookers see this as condoning the sin. The church loses its integrity. Non-believers may not agree with our beliefs but they do expect us to live by what we believe.

And the idea that bringing a wayward believer to discipline creates conflict misses the mark. The conflict already exists. The church already suffers. The kingdom already has a tarnished image. The member already is outside God's will. Church discipline doesn't bring on conflict, it deals with conflict already present.

A third reason churches look past the necessity of church discipline is that they don't want to lose people. Prideful people count things that aren't what counts most. I'm all for keeping the stats that most churches keep. It helps us manage resources and plan for current and future ministry. But when the number of people we attract to a service is more important than the depth of each person's relationship with Christ, we have missed the point. Sure, the best case scenario is that we have lots of people in church; all at different levels of maturity but all maturing. And we need lost people in our midst with whom we are sharing the gospel and to whom we are demonstrating the Christian life. I'm convinced that neglecting church discipline puts a limit on the number of people a church will see and the quality of the relationships being cultivated.

Let's take Jesus' word and put it into practice. The passage in Matthew 18 says to try to reconcile the offender and if that does not happen then we are to "treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector." That doesn't mean to give up on them but to do all you can to bring them to the cross and to redemption and forgiveness. That's how Jesus treated pagans and tax collectors.

Church discipline does not weaken the church. It strengthens the church.