Introduction

The church is a community of people who are faithful followers of Jesus Christ. We are called, as a group, to reflect the character of Jesus- both His love and His holiness.

Since the church is made up of people, it will always fall short of God’s glory. We are holy but not yet perfect. Sin is always crouching at the door, looking for someone to devour.

How the church should respond to the failings of its people, and especially of its leaders, is always controversial. Individuals and groups will have a different perspective on how the church should correct those who go astray.

This issue has been a major public scandal over the last few decades as the way denominational leaders have dealt with the incidence of child abuse by christian ministers. In Australia, both the Catholic and the Anglican denominations have been condemned for covering up paedophile priests, often putting the public perception of the organisation ahead of protecting children and teenagers

Some megachurches and denominations have responded to the exposed sins (often sexual sins) of pastors and other leaders by instant excommunication and banishment. This approach seeks to protect the institution at the expense of the individual leader or their family. A particularly egregious example of this was Pastor Ted Haggard of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, USA, who, together with his family was removed from his home and ordered to not return to the state. This punished not only Ted, but the whole Haggard family.

This study aims to find out what the New Testament teaches about church discipline in general and about leader sin particular. From this study, and through reflection on the cases of other churches, we hope to establish some principles regarding a faithful approach to discipline in the church.

Meaning of Discipline in the New Testament

The main word used for the idea of discipline in the New Testament is paideia which means, among other things, education, training up, nurture of children, instruction, correction, chastisement. This word is not about punishment but about rising to a higher level of thinking and action, to becoming mature.

Another word that is commonly used is mathano which means to learn and is the root word for mathetes or disciple. As disciples, we are always learning from the Master and from one another, again with the expectation that we ultimately become mature followers of Christ.

The purpose of church discipline is the same as for all discipling- to leave sin behind and to become more like Jesus in all aspects of living.

Matthew 18:15-20

“If another believer sins against you,go privately and point out the offence. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses. If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.

“I tell you the truth, whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.

“I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.”

Every public sin starts out as a private sin which breaks relationships. In this passage, Jesus urges His followers to aim for reconciliation and repentance. The first step in discipline is to confront the person privately. If they recognise they have sinned and genuinely repent then the process of church discipline has achieved its goal.

However, it is possible that a hard-hearted sinner in church culture can pretend, even put on a convincing display of repentance, without really meaning anything genuine. The word repentance means literally a change of mind. When we start to follow Jesus, we repent of our sins and allow the Holy Spirit to change our value system. In this passage the phrase “listens and confesses” means a genuine confession not the lip- service “apologies” that are so common when celebrities are caught out.

It needs to be stated at this point that power imbalances can make this step impossible. Some people are intimidating because of their personality, position or reputation. A woman who has been sexually assaulted, for example, may feel particularly vulnerable. It may be necessary in these situations for the person sinned against to take a support person. This person would not act in a confrontational or advocacy role but to strengthen the person in making their case.

If the person refuses to listen to the accuser, then there may be a need for the next step of taking one or two others who act as witnesses of the conversation. By using the phrase, “that everything may be confirmed by two or three witnesses,” Jesus is saying this is an important, more formal step.

While this is not the same as taking the case to a court of law, it is a more formal process than simply seeking reconciliation in a private conversation. In this step, some sort of adjudication is being sought. It is no longer a matter of two people in a private disagreement, this is now a formal process of accusation and response before witnesses.

At the second step, the aim is still for a confession or recognition that an offence has been committed. There might be a need for some kind of reparation or other sign of genuine contrition. In our litigious society, it may well be that this is a formal process set out in the church’s policy and procedures, in which case a formal record would need to be kept by the organisation and by the individuals involved.

The third step involves a more public consideration of the sin and its effect on the church. In a modern context, we would not expect the issue to be determined by a full church meeting. It might be that a church board makes a decision after it (or a special committee) has met with the parties involved and then made a decision. This decision would then be made known to the whole church.

The point in all of this is that “church” today is a very different body to what Jesus was addressing. In the culture of the day, most people lived in relatively small villages and family ties were strong. Relationships in the church were generally in the context of small home groups. When Jesus talks of bringing an issue to the “whole church” he is envisaging home- based groups or elders with jurisdiction over the home groups in a city.

The aim of this whole process is redemption of individuals and of relationships within the church. We do not proceed quickly to expulsion from the church because we long for a separated brother to come back.

Galatians 6:1

“Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spiritshould restorethat person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.”

This verse indicates that restoration is the goal of discipline and it should be done “gently” or “humbly” recognising that we are all sinners and have all fallen short of God’s glory.

Where the person is a leader, then the aim is still restoration and a gentleness of spirit is required.

Hebrews 12:10-11

They [our earthly fathers] disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

God disciplines us for our good, in order to mould us into holy people. God’s discipline is akin to a training program in which our souls are being shaped for eternity.

This suggests that church discipline is seeking the same end. It is not retributive but formative, not for penalising but for directing people to becoming more like Jesus.

1 Corinthians 5:1-13

In this chapter, Paul writes about sexual immorality in the church. There was a man in the church who was sleeping with his step-mother. This was an abomination in both Hebrew and Roman law. The church was apparently using this as an example of how tolerant, progressive, even gracious they were.

Paul said they must expel this person from the fellowship. This presupposes that the elders have already tried to talk the man around and that he had refused to repent. Paul is now saying the matte must come before the full church.

To “hand over the person to satan” means that being cast out of the fellowship, the person is no longer under the spiritual protection of the church. Note that again the aim of the process is restoration: “so that the sinful nature may be destroyed, and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.”

Paul instructs them not to have anything to do with immoral people within the church. (vs. 9-11). we should not dissociate ourselves from the people of the world who are immoral for to do that would mean leaving the world altogether. He is talking about people in the church who claim to be brothers or sisters in Christ yet are consumed by sexual immorality, greed, idoaltry, drunkenness and so on. People who refuse to leave the ways of the world behind are to be removed from the church.

Although this is applied to all believers, it certainly applies to christian leaders, who have an even higher standard of behaviour to follow.

2 Corinthians 2:5-11

This passage refers to a different situation to the one in 1 Corinthians 5. In this instance, apparently, there was a brother who was undermining and insulting Paul when Paul visited the church. The issue was referred to in a previous letter which we no longer have access to.

Reading between the lines, the church voted to expel this person and have nothing to do with him for a time. He must have repented from his sin and was now seeking to be re-admitted to fellowship. Paul is urging the church to forgive him and bring him back into fellowship so that he does not fall away from the Lord and give satan a victory.

Again, in this passage we see the primacy of restoration as the main focus of discipline.

1 Timothy 5:17-22

This passage enjoins the churches to treat elders well and to pay them in honour and with money.

In v. 19, Paul says:

Do not entertain an accusation against an elderunless it is brought by two or three witnesses.

Paul was aware that it is enticing for some people to make false accusations against people in leadership. No accusation should be taken as proven unless there are witnesses. Again this would presuppose that the first step of individual conversation has been taken as the first step in a process.

We would say today that it is important that a fair hearing of accusations (or due process) is conducted so that leaders are not unfairly targeted but equally so that they cannot use their position to evade responsibility for immoral actions.

Conclusions

When a person sins in a way that is a threat to the integrity of the church, then the church must act to discipline the person.
All discipline should lead to the restoration of relationships and the spiritual growth of the person.
Church leaders are held to a higher level of accountability than other people. However, discipline of leaders must lead to a goal of spiritual growth.
Church leaders must not have as their primary concern the protection of the reputation of the congregation. This always leads to poor decision making.
Discipline starts at an individual level and is only escalated when a perpetrator fails to show genuine repentance.
If a crime has been committed, the legal processes must be allowed to run their course.
Where abuse against children is alleged, the local laws and processes must be followed in an open and transparent way.
No discipline process should penalise innocent people such as family members.
Churches need to communicate so that people who are under discipline do not simply attend a different congregation.
While under a period of discipline, the church must continue contact to ensure that the person does not lose faith.