Church Discipline as an Exercise on Mediation
Church Discipline….
2
Church Discipline as an Exercise on Mediation
Church discipline is one of the hard issues for the church to handle. It tends to disrupt relationships, create division, drain energy, and divert focus from the mission of the church. This is, however, the last resort that churches have to maintain the unity of the body against a disruptive member’s conduct, and to maintain its purity as the body of Christ. The Manual of the
Church of the Nazarene expands even further the objectives of church discipline:
The objectives of church discipline are to sustain the integrity of the church, to protect the innocent from harm, to protect the effectiveness of the witness of the church, to warn and correct the careless, to bring the guilty to salvation, to re-habilitate the guilty, to restore to effective service those who are rehabilitated, and to protect the reputation and resources of the church. (Manual: Church of the Nazarene, p. 220, §500)
Church discipline could be, however, part of a broader category as being a last resort to handle conflict resolution in church. Especially considering that in some cases the issues being considered may not have to do with a sin committed against God or His Church. Again, the
Manual of the Church of the Nazarene states:
Members of the church who do violence to the Covenant of Christian Character or the
Covenant of Christian Conduct, or who willfully and continuously violate their membership vows, should be dealt with kindly yet faithfully, according to the grievousness of their offenses. (Manual: Church of the Nazarene, p. 220, §500)
Thus, issues could be related to what is to be accepted as Christian conduct and that is not necessarily an issue of sin. If one remembers the dispute in Acts 15, the church was called to rule on the issue of gentiles being part of the church and as to what should be required of them. There was a strong trend that would tend to reject them if they refused to be
2
Church Discipline as an Exercise on Mediation
Church discipline is one of the hard issues for the church to handle. It tends to disrupt relationships, create division, drain energy, and divert focus from the mission of the church. This is, however, the last resort that churches have to maintain the unity of the body against a disruptive member’s conduct, and to maintain its purity as the body of Christ. The Manual of the
Church of the Nazarene expands even further the objectives of church discipline:
The objectives of church discipline are to sustain the integrity of the church, to protect the innocent from harm, to protect the effectiveness of the witness of the church, to warn and correct the careless, to bring the guilty to salvation, to re-habilitate the guilty, to restore to effective service those who are rehabilitated, and to protect the reputation and resources of the church. (Manual: Church of the Nazarene, p. 220, §500)
Church discipline could be, however, part of a broader category as being a last resort to handle conflict resolution in church. Especially considering that in some cases the issues being considered may not have to do with a sin committed against God or His Church. Again, the
Manual of the Church of the Nazarene states:
Members of the church who do violence to the Covenant of Christian Character or the
Covenant of Christian Conduct, or who willfully and continuously violate their membership vows, should be dealt with kindly yet faithfully, according to the grievousness of their offenses. (Manual: Church of the Nazarene, p. 220, §500)
Thus, issues could be related to what is to be accepted as Christian conduct and that is not necessarily an issue of sin. If one remembers the dispute in Acts 15, the church was called to rule on the issue of gentiles being part of the church and as to what should be required of them. There was a strong trend that would tend to reject them if they refused to be
References: Banks, R., & Stevens, R. P. (1997). The complete book of everyday Christianity. Retrieved August 13, 2009, from http://www.urbana.org/complete-book-of-everydaychristianity/conflict-resolution Brandon, M., & Robertson, L. (2007). Conflict and dispute resolution: a guide for practice. Corvette, B. A. B. (2007). Conflict Management: a practical guide to developing negotiation strategies Guin, J. (2007). Church discipline: the member who is struggling to repent. Retrieved August 13, 2009, from http://oneinjesus.info/2007/09/26/church-discipline-the-member-who-isstruggling-to-repent/ Human capital in business. Retrieved August 19, 2009, from http://www.hcib.ch/ Manual: Church of the Nazarene New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. 1995. LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation. Runde, C. E., & Flanagan, T. A. (2007). Becoming a conflict competent leader. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Sanders, B. H. (2005a). Church conflict: good or evil? [Electronic Version]. Enrichment Journal. Retrieved August 20, 2009, from http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/200502/200502_conflict_1.cfm Sanders, B. H. (2005b). Church discipline and the law [Electronic Version]. Enrichment Journal. Retrieved August 20, 2009, from http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/200502/200502_conflict_4.cfm Retrieved August 13, 2009, from http://www.graceonlinelibrary.org/articles/full.asp?id=25||42 Shawchuck, N. (1983). How to manage conflict in the church: understanding & managing conflict Thomas, R. L. (1998, 1981). New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek dictionaries.