Disciplined for discipline
Speaking of expulsion, today's Wall Street Journal has a fascinating article on the resurrection of expulsion & shunning in church discipline. The sinfulness of gossip and discord is a recurring theme, but read the article carefully and you'll see that the sinful gossip in question invariably involves questioning the pastor's actions.
One expellee raised questions about the pastor's apparent extravagance.
Another objected when the pastor breached a confidence and gossipped about recited her sexual history to impress a spiritual lesson on the church.
And then there's the main illustrative tale, about a 71-year-old woman who threatened the church by failing to repent of the sin of wanting to follow the church's bylaws.
No, really:
Shortly after the church hired Mr. Burrick in 2005 to help revive the congregation, which had dwindled to 12 members, Mrs. Caskey asked him to appoint a board of deacons to help govern the church, a tradition outlined in the church's charter. Mr. Burrick said the congregation was too small to warrant deacons. Mrs. Caskey pressed the issue at the church's quarterly business meetings and began complaining that Mr. Burrick was not following the church's bylaws. "She's one of the nicest, kindest people I know," says friend and neighbor Robert Johnston, 69, a retired cabinet maker. "But she won't be pushed around."
In April 2006, Mrs. Caskey received a stern letter from Mr. Burrick. "This church will not tolerate this spirit of cancer and discord that you would like to spread," it said. Mrs. Caskey, along with Mr. and Mrs. Church, continued to insist that the pastor follow the church's constitution. In August, she received a letter from Mr. Burrick that said her failure to repent had led to her removal.
Sigh.
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