{"id":5367,"date":"2009-07-15T06:09:12","date_gmt":"2009-07-15T06:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2009\/07\/the-church-does-it-matter-3-ma.html"},"modified":"2009-07-15T06:09:12","modified_gmt":"2009-07-15T06:09:12","slug":"the-church-does-it-matter-3-ma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/07\/the-church-does-it-matter-3-ma.html","title":{"rendered":"The Church: Does it Matter 3 (Mary Veeneman)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another post from my colleague, Mary Veeneman, based on a book by Harper and Metzger. Let’s hear what you are thinking about church discipline.<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When I was in college, I had a professor who had previously
\nbeen a full-time pastor.  <\/span>In a
\ndiscussion on ecclesiology one day in class, the subject of church discipline
\ncame up<\/b>.  <\/span>Our professor told us
\nthat in the church he had led as pastor that he would contact the former church
\nof anyone who sought membership in his church who had not recently moved to the
\narea to ensure that no one was seeking a new church to avoid the discipline of
\nanother church.  <\/span>When asked how
\nother churches responded, he told us that more often than not, the pastors of
\nother churches seemed to be annoyed to have to take the time to answer the
\nquestion.<\/p>\n

What do you think? 
\n<\/span>Have evangelicals neglected church discipline? Do you think churches should practice church discipline? Have you seen it work effectively?  <\/span>If so, what should it look like?  <\/span>What solution (if any) is there to the problem of
\nenforcement? <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

His point was that evangelical churches often do not do
\nchurch discipline well if we do it at all<\/i>.  <\/span>This is the same point made by Bruce Harper and Paul Louis
\nMetzger in Exploring Ecclesiology: An Evangelical and Ecumenical Introduction<\/a>\"\"<\/strong><\/em>‘s chapter on church discipline.  <\/span>The
\nauthors begin their discussion by explaining the development of church
\ndiscipline across the history of the church.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

In the earliest period of church history, questions were
\nraised about whether any sins committed after one’s baptism could be
\nforgiven.  <\/span>Many in the early church
\nbelieved that they could not, and this led to many, including the Emperor
\nConstantine to receive baptism only when death seemed imminent.  <\/span>Eventually, the idea of penance and
\nrestoration to the church became more prevalent.  <\/span>Starting as a way to readmit those to the Church who had
\nrenounced the Christian faith or in some other way betrayed the church in the
\nface of Roman persecution, over the next several centuries, a system grew up<\/i>
\nwhere one could enter the order of the penitents, carry out a penance that
\nwould often last several years, and eventually re-enter the church.  <\/span>While this was originally only
\npermitted once in one’s lifetime, eventually a system of confession and penance
\nrose for all kinds of sins whether grave, mortal sins or venial sins.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

In the pre-Reformation church, church discipline was
\nuniversal.  <\/span>Harper and Metzger
\npoint out that if one was excommunicated in that period of time it was
\nuniversal.  <\/span>After the Reformation
\nwith the fracturing of Protestantism, they argue evangelicals often respond to
\nchurch discipline (when it is even carried out) by simply going to the next
\nchurch down the road.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

Essentially, Harper and Metzger identify two key problems.  <\/span>First, they note that although the New
\nTestament is clear that churches do need to carry out discipline at times, the
\nlack of specifics as to how this is to be done often results in churches
\nneglecting this mandate.  <\/span>Second,
\nthey note that because of the fragmentation within evangelicalism, church
\ndiscipline is easily ignored. 
\n<\/span>Those who find themselves under discipline can simply go to the
\nevangelical church down the street.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n


<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another post from my colleague, Mary Veeneman, based on a book by Harper and Metzger. Let’s hear what you are thinking about church discipline. When I was in college, I had a professor who had previously been a full-time pastor.  In a discussion on ecclesiology one day in class, the subject of church discipline came…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gospel"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Church: Does it Matter 3 (Mary Veeneman) - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/07\/the-church-does-it-matter-3-ma.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Church: Does it Matter 3 (Mary Veeneman) - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Another post from my colleague, Mary Veeneman, based on a book by Harper and Metzger. 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