I've heard of Church discipline before, but mostly associated with Jehovah's Witness congregations. For those that practice it, please enlighten me. What exactly does that constitute? What denomination are you? Who decides who gets discipline?
I'm genuinely curious here. Not trying to troll or start arguments.
We have rules of decorum and a church covenant. If a member is reported to be breaking the covenant or otherwise living a life "not becoming of a christian" and it is reported to the church, charges will be brought. What usually gets it is drinking, drugs or a couple living together or getting pregnant out of wedlock. It could be anything or any lifestyle the bible clearly says should be avoided by christians. When charges are brought, the deacons will contact the person in question. The person has two options 1) explain themselves, which will lead to the charges being dropped if its a misunderstanding or false claim or the person will come before the church and make their acknowledgements and ask the churches forgiveness or 2) the person will say "yes i did it, no i will not make it right", in other words they tell the church to get bent, at that point there will be a vote in conference to withdraw fellowship from that person for walking disorderly. That does not mean we(the church) kicked them out. Once a person joins our church, it is for life. I cannot ever remember an occasion when any persons membership was disolved. It means they are no longer in fellowship with the church, in other words the church does not agree with how they have chose to live their life. The person is not shunned or forgot about. Usually they are loved even harder and prayed for more. They can still come to church every sunday, if they want to. They can still participate in anything the church does except communion/ footwashing.
