Church Discipline?
Does a church have the right to publicly reveal a person's private sins? A Dallas court is being asked to decide whether Watermark Community Church can do exactly that to a man and a woman identified in court records as "John Doe" and "Jane Roe."
Church officials say they are only following a process of church discipline outlined in the Gospel of Matthew and written into the church's bylaws. "Basically, we're being sued because we're seeking to love John Doe in accordance with the principles outlined by God's word," said the pastor, the Rev. Todd Wagner. Read the story here.
I believe in church discipline. I believe the church went through the appropriate means according to scripture up until the man wanted to leave the church. But Watermark's bylaws say a member
"may not resign from membership in an attempt to avoid such care and correction."How can a person not resign? Somehow this sounds almost cult-like. You can't force someone to change can you? What do you think? [Update] As usual, the media got a lot of this story wrong. Read this and this.
posted by Kevin Bussey at 5/29/2006 11:40:00 AM
8 Comments:
Why does all the weird church stuff seem to happen in the D/FW metroplex?
I would say that the church bylaw seems odd. The goal of church discipline is to deal with sin and restore one to the fellowship. To me it is like protecting the flock from the infiltration of undealt with sin among them. However, if the person is unrepentant and wants to leave, we should surely pray for them where ever their travels take them, and hope that they find repentance. If they move their church letter, I would even think it fair to notify any potential new church of the issue in the right avenue of administration. However, to say ... nope, you're a member here, and you are going to repent if we have to chain you to the pew, seems a bit outside of my understanding of that passage in Matthew.
I don't this church's thoughts but I think I have an idea why the by-laws speak that way. In the 1st century, as you all would know, if one identified with the church you were isolated from the rest of society. Therefore, if the church enacted discipline, with the end possibility being exclusion from the church, one would (hypothetically) "jump" at the opportunity to repent in hopes that they wouldn't be completely ostricized from the entire community. My guess is that this by-law is somewhat of an attempt (albeit a poor one) to re-create this culture.
My take is that we must practice church discipline, but it must be done with the current cultural parameters in mind. For instance, we just had to allow an individual to leave our church without experiencing discipline because once he committed the sin, and it was made public, he left the church. Once he's gone from the church we no longer have "a bargaining position" from which to enact discipline. We wouldn't forward his letter of membership on to another church, though.
It's a sticky row to hoe, I'll admit. I do think it could be handled with a little more sensitivity than it is in this situation.
Dorcas -
Why? Probably because of all the transplanted Okies living in your midst...
That does seem like an odd bylaw. However, I'm no lawyer, but if they joined understanding those bylaws, didn't they agree to be bound by them, forfeiting any right to sue for being held to them?
I think Micah is on to something. I think they were trying to keep a person from just skipping out on their church and taking their problem to another church.
I do think that the by-law is beyond Matthew 18, though.
Wes may have a point, but they would have to prove, I think, that the members understood the by-law when they joined. I don't think the church will be able to stand on the by-law's legality as a contract. But who knows?
Art
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Okay, I spelled a word incorrectly and had to remove it. You can guess the word.
Inquiring minds want to know...
How often do churches hand out their by-laws to members AND how often are a member's sins made public to the church, if at all?
I never knew our church had by-laws until I joined a committee.
I read about his case and one part of the church's process of discipline included contacting other Christians from other churches to help decide the matter. I believe it was then that the people decide to withdraw their membership from the church. Discipline is a good thing, but it should be kept within the church and done in a loving manner. If a person chooses to leave the membership, simply warn them that a full acounting will be sent to any church they hope to join.
Mark, I'm sure that your church would make a copy for you if you asked for one. I think, and Kevin probably knows better than me, that our old church handed them out at a business meeting once or twice.
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