Every Church Will Face Situations Scripture Doesn't Spell Out. Are You Ready?
The Bible is clear that churches must practice discipline. Jesus commands it in Matthew 18. Paul practices it in his letters. And faithful churches throughout history have understood that lovingly confronting sin — and, when necessary, removing unrepentant members — is an act of love toward the individual, the congregation, and the gospel witness.
But knowing the principle and knowing what to do on a Tuesday afternoon when a specific situation lands on a pastor's desk are two very different things.
What do you do when the sin doesn't fit neatly into a biblical category? When the circumstances are complicated, the relationships tangled, and the right course of action genuinely unclear? When real people with real histories and real pain are involved, and a wrong step could cause serious damage?
In Church Discipline, Jonathan Leeman provides exactly what churches in these moments need: a theological framework for understanding and implementing disciplinary measures, paired with concrete examples drawn from real-life situations and the responses they require. This is a contemporary, concise, and genuinely practical how-to guide — one that equips pastors and churches to face the endless variety of circumstances and sins that no scriptural case study covers, and to do so with biblical wisdom, pastoral care, and love.
What This Book Covers
Jonathan Leeman works through the theology and practice of church discipline with the clarity and pastoral depth that have made him the most trusted contemporary voice on the subject:
- The theological foundation of church discipline — Why discipline is an act of love, not punishment, and what biblical convictions must undergird it
- The scope of church discipline — What kinds of sin warrant formal disciplinary action and how to think about the endless variety of situations that don't fit neatly into a list
- A biblical framework for unclear cases — How to apply scriptural principles to the messy, complicated, real-life situations that every church eventually faces
- The process of church discipline — A step-by-step account of how discipline should be carried out — from initial confrontation to restoration or removal
- Real-life situations and responses — Concrete examples drawn from actual church experience, showing how the theological framework applies in practice
- Discipline and restoration — Why the goal of church discipline is always repentance and restoration, and how to pursue that goal even in the hardest cases
- Protecting the church and the gospel — How faithful church discipline protects the integrity of the congregation and the clarity of its gospel witness
What Readers Will Learn
- The theological convictions that must undergird any faithful practice of church discipline
- How to develop a biblical framework for handling disciplinary situations that don't fit neatly into scriptural case studies
- The step-by-step process of implementing church discipline — from private confrontation to public action — with pastoral wisdom and care
- How to handle real-life disciplinary situations involving complicated circumstances, tangled relationships, and unclear categories of sin
- Why the goal of discipline is always love — love for the sinning individual, the congregation, and the watching world
- How to pursue restoration faithfully even in the most difficult and painful cases
- How faithful church discipline protects both the health of the congregation and the integrity of its gospel witness
How to Use This Book
Church Discipline is concise, practical, and immediately useful:
- Personal reading — Ideal for any pastor, elder, or church leader wanting a clear, biblically grounded guide to implementing church discipline faithfully
- Leadership training — An essential resource for equipping a pastoral team or eldership to handle disciplinary situations with wisdom, unity, and care
- Elder and deacon meetings — A practical guide to work through together before a disciplinary situation arises — so that the framework is in place when it is needed
- Church polity classes — A reliable, accessible guide for churches wanting to understand and establish a biblical approach to discipline
- Pastoral reference — A book to keep close at hand for the moments when a specific and complicated situation requires a clear, biblically grounded framework for response
Who Should Read This Book
This book is for you if you are:
- A pastor or elder who knows church discipline is biblical but has never had a clear, practical guide for implementing it in real situations
- A church leader facing a specific disciplinary situation right now and needing a trustworthy framework for thinking it through
- A church planter wanting to establish a culture and process of discipline from the very beginning of your congregation
- A church member wanting to understand what church discipline is, why it exists, and how it is meant to be carried out in love
- Anyone who has ever sat with a complicated pastoral situation and thought: I know what the principle is — but what exactly do I do now?
About the Author
Jonathan Leeman is the Editorial Director of 9Marks Ministries and an elder at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. He holds a PhD in political theory and is the author of several highly regarded books on church membership, church discipline, congregational authority, and political theology. Jonathan has written more extensively and more carefully on church discipline than perhaps any other contemporary evangelical author — bringing to the subject both rigorous theological thinking and the hard-won pastoral wisdom of someone who has worked closely with churches navigating these situations for many years. His writing consistently helps churches do what is both biblically faithful and genuinely loving — even when the two feel in tension.
About the Building Healthy Churches Series
Church Discipline is part of the Building Healthy Churches series published by 9Marks and Crossway — a library of short, focused books designed to help churches recover and embody the marks of a healthy, gospel-centred congregation. Each volume tackles one essential aspect of church health with biblical clarity, pastoral warmth, and practical application.
Other titles in the series include:
