Disciplinary Matters

1.1 Discipline in the church is a positive expression in the spirit of love and helpfulness of concern both for the offender and for the church. Its purpose is that the life and work of the church may be orderly, conducive to the spiritual growth of the members, and corrective of weaknesses, mistakes and offenses by individuals and judicatories. Appropriate reasons for discipline are actions contrary to the faith and practice to which, according to the scriptures, all Christians are called, or which are contrary to the government of the church.

1.2 Discipline in the church should be appropriate to the nature of the error or offense. All acts of discipline, both for individuals and judicatories, should be weighed carefully, keeping in mind the purpose of discipline.

1.3 The various approaches in discipline have the same purpose and generally should begin with counseling and only then proceed to the more severe approaches. Discipline may include, but is not limited to, the following:

a. Counseling is the effort to encourage and assist the person or judicatory to correct what is wrong, to remedy deficiencies, and to learn and grow spiritually through the experience;

b. Admonition is a formal action to identify the weakness, mistake, or offense of a person or judicatory and to urge or order its correction;

c. Suspension of a member of a church is a temporary exclusion from the right to vote in a congregational meeting and a removal from any position of leadership, including the session and diaconate. For a minister it is a temporary prohibition against the performance of the duties of the office. For a judicatory it is a temporary withdrawal of its power to act and a denial of representation in higher judicatories. Suspension may be for a definite or indefinite period of time;