Practicing Christian Leadership, Mentor's Guide, MG11

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P R A C T I C I N G C H R I S T I A N L E A D E R S H I P

a vision makes God out to be too much of a cruel judge rather than the loving Father he is to us. Which group is right? How would we know whether a number of occurrences are actually the ongoing discipline of the Lord or simply mere coincidence? Should we even try to figure things like this out?

The practicing Christian leader is one who challenges the people of God to remain faithful in their discipleship in Jesus Christ by exhorting them for the purpose of edification. In her own godly personal example, she exhorts believers with grace, focusing on the person of Christ, anchoring exhortation on the Word of God, informed by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. While our position before the Lord (our standing) is secure due to our faith in Christ, our daily walk with him and others (our state) is subject to change with our obedience to God. In light of our challenge to live for the Lord, we must be willing to learn from others in order that our state may line up in our conduct with our high standing in Christ. In exercising spiritual discipline, we must be ever vigilant against our own pride and judgmentalism, with the need to verify all accusations in the mouths of two or three witnesses, and the need to exercise pastoral authority in severe cases. The Christian leader is charged with guiding the process to discipline a backsliden or estranged member of God’s people for the purpose of restoring them to full fellowship. Discipline is given to the Church to prevent sin from occurring, to correct a problem that already exists, to vindicate openly a person accused wrongly of an act, and to instruct the Church in God’s standard of holiness. Our Lord has outlined in Matt. 18 a clear procedure that we must obey when confronted with offense and conflict in the Church.

Restatement of the Lesson’s Thesis

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If you are interested in pursuing some of the ideas of Effective Church Discipline: Exhorting, Rebuking, and Restoring you might want to give these books a try: Adams, Jay E. Sibling Rivalry in the Household of God . Denver: Accent Books, 1988.

Resources and Bibliographies

------. Handbook on Church Discipline . Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986.

Sande, Ken. The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict . Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2004. Welch, Ed. Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave . Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 2002. White, John and Ken Blue. Healing the Wounded . Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985.