A note from Justin Taylor for whose who are interested in the process of church discipline, on a case that’s gone public:

A couple of stories about a church discipline case in Florida that has gone public. Here’s the letter from the church to the woman undergoing discipline. (FoxNews calls it an “extortion letter”!!)

Mike Mckinley and Greg Gilbert offer their thoughts, including some helpful counsel to churches.

I particularly appreciated the 9Marks’ guys comments for churches about how to proceed with biblical church discipline in a way that has also historically been protected by our US court system.  We have a couple of great articles on our website, too, to help churches protect themselves and proactively explain church discipline… if you’re curious, check out:

• Biblical Accountability and Discipline (the biblical basis, reducing exposure to legal liability, and how loving accountability can actually be attractive to people)
• Informed Consent (“One of the most effective defenses to any lawsuit is informed consent. To secure this defense, a church needs to prove to a court that the person complaining of a wrong was in fact fully aware of the church’s policies and procedures and knowingly agreed to be bound by them.”)
• and, our recommended Relational Commitments, where churches can be upfront with members about their commitment to the member as well as their expectation of commitments being made by the member.

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