Lesser Sin part 3 (Church Discipline)

Our Pastor preached a great sermon on church membership today. I was intrigued by some of his examples. His first example was that of a husband or wife who lovingly confronts their spouse's selfish attitude. I think that his example can be extrapolated out to mean that church discipline can and should exercised with in the local church body as well as the larger body as a whole. I think that the idea of church discipline is to be applied to the whole body, even to cross denominational lines. In other words, if you see a professing Christian who has been confronted by one individual, without repentance then his sin should be carefully and lovingly brought before the elders of his church for the purpose of seeking restoration. If he still refuses to repent and is only offended by the accusations, then it should be made known to the rest of his church congregation so that they can pray for him and encourage him, and he should be put out until he comes to recognise his sin and seeks repentance. His sin should also be made known to any congregation that he may attempt to run to so that they can attempt to restore him as well.

Continued later

David