Practicing Christian Leadership, Student Workbook, SW11

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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

8. What is the purpose of exhortation, and what are the key principles associated with it? What are the problems associated with exhorting others in an unbiblical way? 9. What insights should we use as we seek to exhort others to remain faithful to Christ, and attain to the maturity that he desires and demands of us as his disciples?

Effective Church Discipline: Exhorting, Rebuking, and Restoring

Segment 2: Practicing Discipline in the Church: Rebuking and Restoring

Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis

The practicing Christian leader is charged with guiding the process to discipline a backsliden or estranged member of God’s people for the purpose of restoring him or her to full fellowship in the body. All spiritual discipline is a family affair, done with a corrective purpose in mind, to restore the fallen back into full membership within the body of Christ. Our objective for this second segment of Effective Church Discipline: Exhorting, Rebuking, and Restoring is to enable you to see that: • 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 God’s way to protect his people and restore the fallen to full fellowship, and should never be done to shame, condemn, or impose guilt on others. • Condemnation has no connection to discipline; discipline has to do with restoring a Christian to the Lord and the Church whose condition or state has momentarily fallen into sin. • 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.

Summary of Segment 2

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