How does our church approach & execute “church discipline”? Do we have a policy, manual, guidelines, or resource to inform our stance & guide those situations?
The short answer is that when a concern or issue arises from our church family that requires intervention and “church discipline,” meaning the church leadership getting involved in some way to help bring repentance and restoration, our leadership follows the pattern as set forth in Matthew 18:15-17. The issue must first be discussed between the two parties in conflict. If that does not bring resolution, we are to include one or two brothers (fellow believers) to help mediate. If the issue persists, bring it to the leadership of the church (pastors and elders) to help. Once those avenues have been used, if the person in the wrong is still unrepentant, we must break fellowship, until repentance is evident. This outcome, however, is very rare, and never our goal.
Because this is a complex issue, below is an expanded explanation of church discipline as discussed in the Bible, and how it is applied at Calvary Boise.
Like many questions of church processes or government, many people have strong convictions on the idea of church discipline based on their positive or negative experiences of discipline in general. Some come from church backgrounds with complete informality, while others come from very rigid and prescribed procedures of what this can look like.
With this topic in particular many have questions because of their negative experiences, church hurt, or neglect and abuse by church leaders. This makes talking about church discipline very difficult. There are good and godly people with convictions that the church ought to have a form of discipline, and very good and godly people who are concerned about abuse of authority or creating church cultures that become legalistic and judgmental.
To answer this question, let’s first lay out a more positive and “good news” (gospel) vision for the concept of discipline. Here are a couple big picture ideas that recast the idea of church discipline into an overarching framework of the good news we receive in following Jesus and walking in His ways.
1. Discipline is Discipleship
First, let’s look at the great commission of Jesus to His followers, after the resurrection, from Matthew 28:18–20,
[18] And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (ESV)
The mission of the church is not only to go into the world and preach the gospel, but to “make disciples” of all the people groups in the world. This begins with baptism but continues in teaching them to observe ALL that Jesus commanded. This is an all-encompassing phrase from the authoritative risen Christ about what His church is to do. Make disciples. We can’t miss here that the word disciple is related to the word “discipline.” So, the first thing to say about church discipline is that all of the Christian life in one sense is being “disciplined” or “discipled” by Jesus, through His word, the Holy Spirit, and the church body. And this is good news!
We didn’t come to Christ because our lives were perfect and we needed that little bit of extra inspiration, or a religious club to belong to. We came to Christ when we saw our sin and recognized its destructive power in our lives, and that we needed a new Lord of our lives and new ways to walk in. So, the gospel good news is that Jesus has given us Himself as the Lord, Master, and Rabbi and He will bring His loving, authoritative voice into our lives to both instruct us and to correct us to form us into His image – which is for our good! It’s clear from the great commission (and the rest of the New Testament letters) that the church is a big part of that process. So, when someone teaches you a Bible study, gives a word of encouragement in a way that you could honor God, or even corrects a sin you are stuck in, that is all discipleship and that is all a form of discipline. Everyday conversations are “church discipline” and it is good for us, because it is helping us grow to follow Jesus in ALL of life – the very good news we know we need!
2. Discipline is Love in Action
Second, “church discipline” is positive because biblical discipline is a sign of love, not of hate. In the Bible if you get turned over to your own ways (Rom. 1) or left alone by God or people, it is a sign of lack of care – the opposite of love. But when God—in his dealings with your life, through his word, by His Spirit, or through the church—disciplines you, it is a sign of love and care. Consider Hebrews 12:7–11, where it says:
[7] It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? [8] If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. [9] Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? [10] For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. [11] For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (ESV)
So, “discipline” is a positive sign that means you are loved as God’s legitimate child! Just as God is a loving father, the elders and pastors of a church (with other leaders and servants) are to act as loving older brothers in Christ to speak truth, guide, correct, and even rebuke things in the lives of God’s people that are not “good news” for their lives and aren’t healthy in belief or practice. They are to also do this among one another and help create an environment where the whole community of the church can disciple each other to look more and more like Jesus. Again, it’s such good news that we don’t each have to disciple ourselves, but have a whole community of believers to help us be discipled through loving discipline to share in a life that is full of righteousness, peace, and joy.
3. Discipline is a Process
Sadly, this doesn’t always work out positively, and people get stuck in sin. Jesus talked about this Himself and gave a three-step process for the community of believers to follow when someone is stuck and discipleship must take a turn to discipline.
Matthew 18:15–20
[15] “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. [16] But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. [17] If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. [18] Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. [19] Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. [20] For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (ESV)
In addition, Paul the apostle wrote the following to the Corinthian church when they were dealing with someone in the church community who would not be discipled and wanted to go on sinning.
1 Corinthians 5:9–13
[9] I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—[10] not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. [11] But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. [12] For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? [13] God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.” (ESV)
4. Discipline at Calvary Boise
Obviously, there is much explanation need for these verses, and that’s where the question comes in…so how does that work at Calvary Boise?
That’s a great question, because it means you care about people being discipled, or people being protected. You don’t want the church to neglect or abuse people, and you want the church to be in the world but not be of the world. Here is how we try to work that out here at Calvary Boise:
We encourage people to live life in communities. From the biblical passages, we see that discipleship and discipline happen in relationship. In a church our size, it would be odd if we had announcements in our Sunday gathering talking about people being “under discipline,” because most people wouldn’t even know the people being talked about. What we see in Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 6 is that the individuals in question are known by the people in the church, and the churches are more house-church type communities. So, we have begun to structure our church life more and more around communities so that people are known, loved, discipled, and disciplined in that context. This is especially important for a church without a formal membership. We are trusting the leaders of our Calvary Communities to do the frontline work of leading the discipleship of people, and then our pastors provide oversight, resourcing, and availability to them to help them as they lead. The pastors and elders oversee the whole church family, and help apply church discipline when situations that come up in a community become more complicated and serious, and when they come to light through other relational avenues in the church.
Whenever a concern or issue arises from an individual within a Calvary Community, this is the conversation progression to resolve the issue:
- Community Leader
- Communities Pastor
- Communities Pastor & 1 Elder
- Group of Elders
- Group of Elders and Lead Pastor
We pastor, disciple, and discipline those who receive our pastoring. Since we don’t have a formal membership but do have ways that people express that they are part of this church family, we accept that ultimately, we can only pastor those who want to be discipled. In fact, even in churches where there is a formal membership, our experience is that you can only pastor those who will receive it. If you attend Calvary Boise on a consistent basis, we take that as an expression that you want to follow the leaders of Calvary Boise, and we will seek to love you, care for you, and disciple you at church gatherings, in communities, and through every avenue we have. If there is a known issue of continuing sin, then we would seek to have the pastors, elders, or leaders most closely related to the people involved work through the discipleship/discipline process with them. We don’t have a manual for this but would simply seek to follow the biblical guidelines for how we pastor those in these situations.
Whenever a concern or issue arises from an individual who is not under the leadership of a Calvary Community, this is the conversation progression to resolve the issue:
- Ministry Leader
- Pastor
- Pastor & 1 Elder
- Group of Elders
- Group of Elders and Lead Pastor
We, in rare occasions, will ask people to refrain from being a part of our church family or in a particular setting in our church community. Sadly, our hearts do get sick with sin and so stuck at times that they become hardened in a habit or heart posture that is destructive for ourselves, our communities, or the wider church family. At those times the most loving action we can take is to protect the whole body from sin and seek to call the person or people involved to repentance so that they can be restored back to fellowship (with us or in another Christ-honoring church family). In our history this has thankfully been a rare occasion, and if you mostly attend on Sundays, you wouldn’t have heard about it if this happened (for the reasons already outline above). Also, when this happens, we seek to walk in a humble spirit and make sure our aim is ultimately restoration, and not merely religious punishment. This is the biblical charge in Galatians 6:1-3 where it says:
[1] Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. [2] Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. [3] For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. (ESV)
There are occasions where you might see a case of discipline in our wider Sunday gathering, but that is most likely related to a known leader in the church. This is done not to shame them, but to follow the scriptural admonition about disciplining elders in 1 Timothy 5:20–22
[20] As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. [21] In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality. [22] Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure. (ESV)
Sadly, sometimes in the church even the “discipline” of elders and pastors can go wrong and be more about a partial or political power play in the church (exactly what Paul forbids in 1 Timothy 5). So, it’s important even when there is a public person who needs correction, that is it done with the same heart to see them come to repentance and be restored.
Church discipline is an aspect of church life that is fraught with complexity and emotion based on convictions, church experience, and hurt. Overall, the goal of any church discipline here at Calvary is the loving discipleship, restoration, and growth of individuals and the whole church family. As Paul the apostle said in 1 Timothy 1:5 of his own heart posture when correcting in discipleship:
[5] The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (ESV)
We hope and pray that we will continue to grow in every form of discipleship as we grow to look more and more like Jesus in our lives, families, and church family.
