How Church Discipline Will Save the Parachurch
By
For years now I’ve been hearing Mark Dever say that a previous iteration of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary “went liberal” because “local churches weren’t doing their job.”
What?! Why was it the local churches’ fault?
Mark’s point is that, when those professors began to say things like “the resurrection is not historical,” then the local churches where those professors were members should have excommunicated them for denying this basic element of a statement of faith.
Read more >
Why Complementarianism Is Crucial to Discipleship
Complementarianism is crucial for Christian discipleship because pastors and churches need to hold up different pictures of Christian maturity for the man and for the woman.
Read more >
More Than Worth It: Costs and Benefits of Church Discipline
He was a middle-aged pastor of a nice-sized and fairly affluent church. The church was theologically conservative and held a high view of Scripture, which is what made his comment so tragically memorable.
He had asked me what I was working on, to which I answered, "A case of church discipline." I had been strongly convicted about taking God at his Word concerning church discipline. My own congregation had recently endured a difficult and painful situation, so I shared that I felt we would not be faithful if we did not strive to obey God in this area.
Read more >
A Church Discipline Primer
What would you think of a coach who instructs his players but never drills them? Or a math teacher who explains the lesson but never corrects her students’ mistakes? Or a doctor who talks about health but ignores cancer?
You would probably say that all of them are doing half their job. Athletic training requires instructing and drilling. Teaching requires explaining and correcting. Doctoring requires encouraging health and fighting disease. Right?
Read more >
Was Dagg Right?
By
One hundred fifty years ago John Dagg suggested that "when discipline leaves a church, Christ leaves with it." At that time, Baptists and most other evangelicals practiced a thorough church discipline. Over the next fifty years most evangelicals abandoned the practice. For at least three generations now, evangelical churches in the West have neglected it. Yet during this period, the Lord has blessed many of these churches in spiritual and material ways. So was Dagg right?
WE FEEL THAT DAGG SHOULD BE RIGHT, BUT…
Read more >
Class IX: Church Discipline
By Jamie Dunlop
A central theme running through this course has been the tension between God's grand purpose for the church and our own sin. God intends the church to be the manifestation of his glory on earth, and yet we are sinful, selfish people. Therefore, much of what we've discussed has focused on how we can live together in God-glorifying love and unity.
Read more >
Let's Just Admit It: Church Discipline Is a Tough Subject
Pastor Sam was not "fired" over the issue of church discipline (not his real name). But you might say he lost his job because of it.
A member of Sam’s congregation had become outwardly divisive and slanderous toward other church members. When Sam confronted the man privately, he turned his guns on Sam publicly.
Read more >
Discipline in the Mainline - Is it Possible or Even Wise?
By
Evangelicals have a lot to learn about church discipline from us in the Protestant Mainline.
Read more >
By 