Does Your Baptist Church Excommunicate?

[Hark]

Does your Baptist Church excommunicate or not?

Jesus taught excommunication for those who have gone astray & refuse to repent.

Matthew 18:12 How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? 13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. 14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. 15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. 16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. 17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

Of course, if they later on repent, they are allowed back in.

Paul taught for the church to excommunicate. in 1 Corinthians 5:1-13

May we see how 1 Corinthians 5:4-5 mirrors how God will judge His House at the rapture by excommunicating saved believers that the Baptist church should have excommunicated, by casting them into the bed of the great tribulation when Satan will wage war on the saints to kill them off. but their spirits are still saved.

If this is the requirement for fellowship & eating with fellow believers, in 1 Corinthians 5:8-11 then we can see why God will disqualify those saved but unrepentant saints & former but still saved believers in being left behind as excommunicated.

That is why the call to repent is important so believers that have gone astray may go to Jesus for help to see the truth as well as their need of Him to deliver them from their sins & help keep them from those sins to be of the firstfruits of the resurrection as a vessel unto honor in His House as opposed to be being left behind which is where all the vessels unto dishonor comes from that are still in His House.. 2 Timothy 2:10-26

So does your Baptist Church practice excommunication or do they leave them alone and preach from the pulpit, hoping they will repent soon?

 

[Salty]

Does your Baptist Church excommunicate or not? ...

First, you made a slight grammer mistake - based on theology.

This would be the correct way:
Does your Baptist church excommunicate or not?

You see the "c" of church should not be capitalized - as there is no such thing
as the Baptist "Church"

Now I would like to answer your question.
But we would need an explanation:
What do you mean by "excommunicate"

Does it mean you are no longer able to enter the Gates of Heaven
or does it mean church discipline - or what.

So in our local Baptist church - we do not excommunicate.
However, if need be- we do exercise church discipline. That would normally
mean a person would not be permitted to hold any church office -
We would NEVER prohibit a person from attending our church, except in a rare instance of potential physical harm being

 

[Marooncat79]

According to Matt 18, Church discipline needs to happen especially for people not seen in years and in blatant sin

 

[Hark]

First, you made a slight grammer mistake - based on theology.

This would be the correct way:
Does your Baptist church excommunicate or not?

You see the "c" of church should not be capitalized - as there is no such thing
as the Baptist "Church"

Okay. Thanks, Hopefully, the Lord will remind me to do that.

Now I would like to answer your question.
But we would need an explanation:
What do you mean by "excommunicate"

Does it mean you are no longer able to enter the Gates of Heaven
or does it mean church discipline - or what.

Both Matthew 18:15-17 & 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 deals with the excommunication from the church when a brother refuses correction.

In regards to how God will excommunicate; unrepentant believers & former believers that remain as former believers at the time the Bridegroom comes, will be excommunicated. A warning that God will do this is in Revelation 2:18-25 We can see 1 Corinthians 5:4-5 from that & why in order to hold fellowship & to eat with one another in Heaven, it should be the same down here for fellowship & eating with one another per 1 Corinthians 5:8-13

So in our local Baptist church - we do not excommunicate.
However, if need be- we do exercise church discipline. That would normally
mean a person would not be permitted to hold any church office -
We would NEVER prohibit a person from attending our church, except in a rare instance of potential physical harm being

Ironic how the Catholic church views excommunication in the same way in regards to Catholic leaders in office, albeit they also refuse the communion to the offended party, but they are still in the church.

If someone is not abiding in Him & refuses correction, God will excommunicate him or her when the Bridegroom comes. The point of excommunication is to lead them to repentance to God by going to Jesus Christ for help to deliver them from their sins so they can return to fellowship & not lead any one else astray by their errors. That is how the church grow in the Lord, right?

Thank you for sharing.

 

[Hark]

According to Matt 18, Church discipline needs to happen especially for people not seen in years and in blatant sin

Not sure how effective that will be if they are not regular attendees, but I can see what you mean when they go off to college & live in another city after college & then they return to their home town to visit family & then the church when the church finds out about a sinful lifestyle, then I can see how your application could apply towards. I suppose if they find out what church he is attending in the city he lives in to inform that other Baptist church, that would be how excommunication could lead him or her to repentance. But from what I gather from Salty, his Baptist church does not excommunicate but apply church discipline within.

I am not sure if all Baptist church is the same as Salty's but the inquiry is still out there for any Baptist to respond to about their Baptist church.

 

[atpollard]

We practice public stoning.

(If we kick them out, they just take their sin to another church.)

 

[Hark]

We practice public stoning.

(If we kick them out, they just take their sin to another church.)

I have to believe you are kidding or being sarcastic about the stoning. I am addressing the scripture on the subject for why I am asking.

As for the latter part of your comment, that is probably why nobody excommunicates because there are other churches the unrepentant saved believer will go to & so I think they take the preaching from the pulpit approach generally, in hoping God will lead them to repentance, but I haven't seen that happen so.. not so effective.

I have to say that may be the reason why only a few will be ready for the Bridegroom when He comes as prophesied.

Luke 18:7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? KJV

The way Jesus had asked that question, makes me think He wonders if He will find faith in all the earth was His way of saying how bad it will be that only a few find it Luke 13:24-30

 

[atpollard]

I have to believe you are kidding or being sarcastic about the stoning. I am addressing the scripture on the subject for why I am asking.

Yes, it was humor. It was also humor with a purpose. The biblical solution only functions within a Church community (capital C is deliberate). When the “modern church” gave up the interdependent community aspect of church life (centuries ago), it abdicated the power and ability to discipline members by expelling them from the “community” for unrepentant sin in the hope that they would be driven to repentance and back to “the Church community”.

The reality is that we can only kick the problem down the road to another congregation or attempt to deal with it in this congregation. The option to “expel the brother” is an empty gesture when they can just drive to the next Local congregation.

So @Salty was correct that you can practice church discipline and deny positions of responsibility or membership to unqualified individuals, but breaking fellowship except to protect the other members of the congregation is an exercise in futility.

 

[Alcott]

First, you made a slight grammer mistake -

And yuu maid a slite spllngg misteak.

 

[Salty]

And yuu maid a slite spllngg misteak.

oh boy - gues I am now susspendded from being apastor for 30 days

 

[Salty]

So @Salty was correct that you can practice church discipline and deny positions of responsibility or membership to unqualified individuals, but breaking fellowship except to protect the other members of the congregation is an exercise in futility.

So, how important is it for a receiving church to check on the status of a potential new member - especially if it is a transfer of letter from a church in the local area?

 

[atpollard]

So, how important is it for a receiving church to check on the status of a potential new member - especially if it is a transfer of letter from a church in the local area?

Unfortunately, most churches just welcome the new face and most transfers are from one "denomination" to another. An independent Evangelical Free Church doesn't look all that different from an independent Southern Baptist Church to the average Sunday Seat Warmer that doesn't want the Church telling them how to live.

Then there is always Proverbs 18:17 and the "truth". (Have you ever heard one side of a story, then the other side ... and wondered if both people were at the same event?)

 

[Hark]

Yes, it was humor. It was also humor with a purpose. The biblical solution only functions within a Church community (capital C is deliberate). When the “modern church” gave up the interdependent community aspect of church life (centuries ago), it abdicated the power and ability to discipline members by expelling them from the “community” for unrepentant sin in the hope that they would be driven to repentance and back to “the Church community”.

The reality is that we can only kick the problem down the road to another congregation or attempt to deal with it in this congregation. The option to “expel the brother” is an empty gesture when they can just drive to the next Local congregation.

So @Salty was correct that you can practice church discipline and deny positions of responsibility or membership to unqualified individuals, but breaking fellowship except to protect the other members of the congregation is an exercise in futility.

1 Corinthians 5:1-13 does not seem to leave any room about being excommunicated from the church or assembly when it involves fellowship & eating with the member that is astray & yet refuse repentance.

Matthew 18:10-14 stresses how the Son will seek even one astray & then applied it to a brother having gone astray for what we as led by Him to do in Matthew 18:15-17 in excommunicating them from fellowship aka the church.

God will excommunicate unrepentant believers & & unrepentant former believers from the fellowship at the Marriage Supper. Revelation 2:18-25 cites this warning clearly as being cast into the bed of the coming great tribulation. So if the church do not do what Jesus commands, & Paul repeated that commandment to lead others to repentance, He will do it at the rapture event.

Discipline in the church only works when they repent. If they repent, as Jesus said, you have regained your brother Matthew 18:15 by the correction of scripture with 2 or 3 witnesses to the offended party but if they do not repent, the last form of discipline is excommunication by the church or assembly.

Churches that love Him & keeps His words by abiding in Him is how individual member follow suit. If the church do not follow Him by example, I am not sure how the individual believer in that church are faring with their walk with Christ. It could set the precedent to procrastinate to repent & then they are overcome by that sin to not want to repent at all.

2 Peter 2:19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. KJV

So to avoid that in caring for every member of the body of Christ at that assembly is why scriptures are to be used by the leaders.

2 Timothy 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. KJV

Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. ~ KJV

My former church did not excommunicate but ignore the sins & even give grace to sin like getting a divorce but not for the cause of adultery or fornication. They rationalize that sin is sin and that there is no greater sin over others. They even apply the commitment to the Lord as why they do not correct others because by that commitment is the knowledge of sin & so even though they are not committing the same sin as the believer they would have corrected, by that commitment, they remove themselves from correcting any one. Makes me wonder how they raise their children or if their children throws that rational back at them for why they refuse correction.

So why people ignore or overlook the unrepentant sins of others, the assembly becomes a bunch of Pharisees backbiting & condemning others with gossip & slander, alienating others while forming their own little group & they may even be doing the same thing to each other in that group. No one cares for the body of Christ. No one corrects but condemns behind their backs or wind up condemning themselves and feel like a fraud to leave the church because they can't keep their commitment to the Lord by doing the best they can in keeping that commitment.

Little do they know that Jesus never asked for a commitment from His disciples but to deny themselves as able to follow Him by their flesh or by their will power, to pick up the cross daily in that it is not we who live but Christ lives in us for how we can follow Him, He is asking us to trust Him to lead us & to help us follow Him as the Good Shepherd He is. Luke 9:23

This is why little children are free to come to the Lord for all they can do is trust the Lord to help them follow Him. Indeed, it is the only way they can enter in in living that reconciled relationship with God & that is thru Jesus Christ Mark 10:13-15

Signs of the times for why I believe He was warning believers to be ready or else. If the church does not get them ready, maybe the Lord Jesus Christ will wake up those that hear in getting them ready as only a few will be.

 

[Hark]

So, how important is it for a receiving church to check on the status of a potential new member - especially if it is a transfer of letter from a church in the local area?

Jesus made the point of correction when a church member aka a brother is caught in a trespass. The church should freely receive & convert even sinners but also called to correct saved believers when the trespass is known. It is when they refuse correction that a saved believer is to be excommunicated for the hope that it will lead them to repentance to be partakers of the firstfruits of the resurrection or else God will at the rapture when they will be resurrected after the great tribulation.

 

[atpollard]

Jesus made the point of correction when a church member aka a brother is caught in a trespass. The church should freely receive & convert even sinners but also called to correct saved believers when the trespass is known. It is when they refuse correction that a saved believer is to be excommunicated for the hope that it will lead them to repentance to be partakers of the firstfruits of the resurrection or else God will at the rapture when they will be resurrected after the great tribulation.

You are speaking of what scripture commands while ignoring REALITY:

First Baptist Church of Anytown formally excommunicates "Brother Jones". Brother Jones drives 5 moles down the road to the Evangelical Free Church of Anytown and begins attending services.

• In what practical sense has Scripture been obeyed and the stubborn brother that refuses to repent been "excommunicated"?

So First Baptist goes the extra mile and contacts the Evangelical Free Church to inform them about Brother Jones. The Evangelical Free Church takes the extraordinary step of expelling Brother Jones from their assembly based on the decision of another church of another denomination. Brother Jones must now drive 20 miles to the Independent Baptist Church of Nexttown to attend services and complain about those legalistic Christians at his former church.

• In what practical sense has Scripture been obeyed and the stubborn brother that refuses to repent been "excommunicated"?

 

[Hark]

You are speaking of what scripture commands while ignoring REALITY:

First Baptist Church of Anytown formally excommunicates "Brother Jones". Brother Jones drives 5 moles down the road to the Evangelical Free Church of Anytown and begins attending services.

• In what practical sense has Scripture been obeyed and the stubborn brother that refuses to repent been "excommunicated"?

So First Baptist goes the extra mile and contacts the Evangelical Free Church to inform them about Brother Jones. The Evangelical Free Church takes the extraordinary step of expelling Brother Jones from their assembly based on the decision of another church of another denomination. Brother Jones must now drive 20 miles to the Independent Baptist Church of Nexttown to attend services and complain about those legalistic Christians at his former church.

• In what practical sense has Scripture been obeyed and the stubborn brother that refuses to repent been "excommunicated"?

One can say the same for the brother that was having his father's wife in 1 Corinthians 5:1-13. In the second letter to the Corinthians, that brother repented. It is hard to see that but it is mentioned of receiving the brother that was excommunicated that had repented..

2 Corinthians 2:1 But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness. 2 For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me? 3 And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all. 4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you. 5 But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all. 6 Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many. 7 So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. 8 Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him. 9 For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things. 10 To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; 11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. ~ KJV

Did the early church continued the practice? I can see evidence that they had not.

Can the church blacklist an unrepentant believer & explain why by informing all other churches? They have the means today to do it to mark someone. An example below for false teachers & false prophets.

Romans 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. 18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple ~ KJV.

Something to pray about. We are warned not to follow the crowd or else... Matthew 7:13-27. Following a church is not the same thing as following Jesus Christ when he is our Head & Good Shepherd as we are all to submit to the Word of God.

 

[Yeshua1]

First, you made a slight grammer mistake - based on theology.

This would be the correct way:
Does your Baptist church excommunicate or not?

You see the "c" of church should not be capitalized - as there is no such thing
as the Baptist "Church"

Now I would like to answer your question.
But we would need an explanation:
What do you mean by "excommunicate"

Does it mean you are no longer able to enter the Gates of Heaven
or does it mean church discipline - or what.

So in our local Baptist church - we do not excommunicate.
However, if need be- we do exercise church discipline. That would normally
mean a person would not be permitted to hold any church office -
We would NEVER prohibit a person from attending our church, except in a rare instance of potential physical harm being

I have attended and membered at my church for 12 yeras now, and have seen it down but once, as the person refused to give up sexual immorality that became public knowledge, and never came back!
He was kicked out of the local church, was treated as being now a lost person, and never came back!

 

[Hark]

I have attended and membered at my church for 12 yeras now, and have seen it down but once, as the person refused to give up sexual immorality that became public knowledge, and never came back!
He was kicked out of the local church, was treated as being now a lost person, and never came back!

Was he or she informed that when they repent, they can come back or not?

 

[Yeshua1]

Was he or she informed that when they repent, they can come back or not?

Yes, we literally applied the Bible, as went from a person, to the elders, to the pastors, and then before entire church!

 

[Hark]

Yes, we literally applied the Bible, as went from a person, to the elders, to the pastors, and then before entire church!

Thank you for sharing.