Constitution Chapter 5B – Discipline (Formal Church Discipline)

B. Formal Church Discipline

If informal discipline does not result in satisfactory correction, then those who are aware of the need for discipline are expected to call the matter to the attention of the elders. Formal discipline will be pursued only after Scriptural prerequisites have been satisfied and the elders have made sufficient inquiry. Such discipline is applied through the formal action and unanimous judgment of the elders. In extraordinary situations, the elders have the authority to take immediate disciplinary action if the honor of Christ or the purity of the church is directly threatened by a failure to act. Except in such extraordinary cases, the pattern of formal church discipline will generally include (1) private admonishment by the elders, (2) formal public admonishment and suspension from the Supper (called by us excommunication or barring from the Table, 2 Thess. 3:14-15), and (3) a formal hearing which may result in being put out of the church (Matt. 18:17) and being delivered over to Satan (1 Cor 5:4,5; 1 Tim 1:20).