Should a leader put anyone out the church because of sin in their life?

Question

How should leaders in church treat the congregation?

Answer 1

Absolutely no way should anyone be removed because of sin. This is a clear "cast the first stone" situation. LEFTY

Answer 2

The procedure for removing someone from a church is spelled out rather clearly in Matthew 18:15-17.

"If your brother sins against you, go and confront him while the two of you are alone. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother. But if he doesn't listen, take one or two others with you so that 'every word may be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If, however, he ignores them, tell it to the congregation. If he also ignores the congregation, regard him as a Gentile and a tax collector."

The whole idea is to bring the one who sinned into repentance. Even when that person has refused to repent, the congregation's task is to speak to that person about repentance. They should "seek to save what was lost."

Church discipline is an uncomfortable situation to deal with, but we must follow through with it, otherwise people would wonder why they bother.

Paul also mentions discipline when he speaks of the man having relations with his father's wife: "When you are gathered together in the name of our Lord Jesus and my spirit and the power of our Lord Jesus are present, hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the Day of the Lord." (I Corinthians 5:4-5)

That must have worked, because Paul, in his later epistle says, "This punishment by the majority is severe enough for such a man. So forgive and comfort him, or else he will drown in his excessive grief." (II Corinthians 2:6-7)

Answer 3

Everyone is fallible and we all make mistakes but God's grace covers our mistakes. However, that does not give us permission to freely sin. If someone falls into sin and the church finds out about it, and know the person genuinely has a Christian heart, the church should merely offer support and love that they overcome it. However, if the person tries to justify their sin, and proclaim that since they are a Christian and God loves them, they can sin no matter what, then the church should, for lack of a better word, excommunicate them. We cannot have people within the church justifying their sin.

Answer 4

For individual sins, no, for we all fall short. If we did that, no one would be in church. But, if an individual has a sinful lifestyle and refuses to repent, even after being warned by the elders, it is right to remove them from the congregation. It is for the good of the whole group to do this so that their sinful lifestyle will not "infect" the rest and cause disunity and divisiveness.

Answer 5

Our leader, President George W Bush, should not only be put out of any church he's in (an apologize to his congregation), but he should be put out of the United States entirely in a forced exile and sent out to sea in the Atlantic Ocean in a leaky row boat with Dck Cheney. The two of them together have committed enough "sin" for every man, woman and child for the next 1000 light years. Good riddance!

Answer 6

The way Christ treats His followers. You either believe & repent and turn away from sin or you don't. And God doesn't let sinners without repentance through Christ into heaven. So why should the Church allow you to participate if when they correct/rebuke you, you don't listen or head God? They cannot stop you from comming but they certainly don't have to allow membership to those not willing to follow the laws of God! Proverbs 9:7-9 says 7 "Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult; whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse. 8 Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you. 9 Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning.

Answer 7

No. Only God has the power to make judgements of people. I think the leaders should treat the congregation strictly as peers. Everybody's as good as the next guy.

Answer 8

That is a matter of what the Church thinks. Normally, if a pastor sins by committing adultery or something, he has broken his vows and lost his creditability.

He should be forgiven, (God forgives everyone who asks), but since he broke his vows, he should be removed from his office, but, out of the church is an answer only the church can give.

Answer 9

It depends on the sin. If you have taken vows or promised certain things in your church and then you go back on those, don't you think they have a right to do as they see fit? In my church, it is set up so that each sin that needs to be taken to a leader, has a set of things you have to do to repent for that sin. I'm not saying you have a certain set of prayers we pray, or certain things we have to say. We have certain acts we have to do to repent of our sins. Most sins don't need to be taken to church leaders, they can be taken care of by ourselves. Only really bad ones need to be taken to leaders. There are certain ones that, if commited, can make excommunication the only thing that can happen. Murder for instance is one of these. Repeated adultry is another. Denouncing the holy spirit or Christ is another one that can have dire consequences. It is ultimitly up to the leaders of the church and to God what will happen to the person. I'm not here to judge, just to say what happens in my church.

Answer 10

Only if the sin is giving the church a bad reputation or causing divisiveness within the church.

Answer 11

Each church should have clearly stated policies on this matter. Like any organization, a Church is a social contract - everybody is there voluntarily.