Church Discipline and the Cross

I’ve been thinking a lot about Church Discipline lately, and its not fun thinking.  I’m guessing that most of my unchurched friends would not know what I’m talking about if I brought it up in conversation.  A few of my church friends would know and speak of the importance of Church Discipline and need for more of it.  I suspect most churched people – like me – have experience with it and cringe.
 
On one level, we’re supportive and understand the value of Church Discipline, but it only seems to be rolled out in the middle of difficult times and painful experiences, and rarely is the outcome positive in anything but a “we were faithfully discharging our duty” sort of sense.  Then there are all my “de-churched” friends.  Frankly, most are “de-churched” because of a particular experience of church discipline gone sour.  There are more stories than I care to bring to mind.

So what is Church Discipline?  I’m a pastor in the Evangelical PresbyterianChurch, so I’ll stick with our own “Book of Discipline.”  (Click Here and go to page 75 to see it.)  This is the constitutional document that guides us in dealing with certain problems that come up in relationships and groups.   Frankly, I’m a huge fan of our BoD.  It’s great to know the rules before the knife fight starts and these are really good rules.

The BoD defines Church Discipline as “the exercise of authority given to the church by the Lord Jesus Christ to instruct and guide its member and their children and to promote its purity and welfare.”  That’s the first sentence in the book.  “Instruct and guide” and “promote its purity and welfare” seem pretty reasonable and good.  But its followed by pages and pages and pages of legalese regarding procedure for a “church trial.”  Let me mention that John Calvin, reasonably the originator of the movement that began the Presbyterian Churches of today, was an aspiring law professor in Paris back in the 1530’s when he was converted.  It seems his children have never recovered.

All those pages usually get brought into play when things break down or go haywire in church life.  A man abandons his wife and family to take up publicly with a younger woman all the while remaining a member of your church and a professing believer.  A young woman in the church’s student ministry winds up pregnant with no intention of getting married to the young man in the group.  A member develops a community wide reputation as a slumlord with unsafe housing and loan-shark business practices.  The church leadership sets out to “instruct and guide” or “promote its purity,” but when all is said and done, there is a blood on the floor.  A family problem is “fixed” with a bomb and people are killed and maimed.  The leadership often comes off as self-righteous and smug – because sometimes they are – even when sad and disappointed by the outcome.  The “offender” is usually more offended and no closer to hope.  Bystanders have watched a trainwreck and are ducking for cover.

Full disclosure: Years ago I was dragged through six months of BoD proceedings – with no written charges – after leading my congregation from affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (USA) to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.  It was humiliating, offensive, time-consuming, petty and pointless.  I’ve observed these proceedings from both sides of the table.

So what goes wrong along the way?  How does “instruct and guide” become “castigate and offend”?

Certainly, part of the problem is the challenge of dealing with people caught up in sin.  A man hard enough to abandon his family is hardly one to be appreciative of and reflect thoughtfully on the exhortation of a church committee. In addition, Ken Priddy made an important point at the April 28, 2011 meeting of the Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic:  We often find ourselves in a messy trial proceeding because we  as pastors have not done the relational work of knowing, discipling and challenging our people on a personal basis.  Problems fester and grow from bad to worse until finally, we have little option besides intervention and conflict with the opportunity for real healing and restoration long past.

I’ve been thinking about Church Discipline in light of the cross though.  Certainly I stand before a just, loving and holy God more guilty, condemnable and alienated than any “accused” party in a Church Discipline case.  Rather than legal proceedings though, God laid aside His glory, took on the same broken human form that I have, and took my just punishment, “even death on a cross.”  (Philippians 2:6-8)  Imagine if church leadership pursued sinning members with the aim of “taking the hit themselves” so they could offer reconciliation and grace  “Sure, we see a problem with you behavior here and won’t pass that by, but what cost can we absorb to make a way for reconciliation?”  What if we thought about Church Discipline as a time for the church to look for a way to “pay the price” so the accused party can “come home.”  What would that look like?

I suspect many prodigals stay with the pigs because of all the previous times they saw other prodigals return and find not a party, but a firing squad or lynch mob.  Can’t say that I disagree with them if that is the only option. But maybe, just maybe, even Church Discipline would look different through Gospel eyes.