Summer 2009 - Brethren in Christ Church

few years ago, I had a conversation with a friendabout church discipline. This friend—a committedChristian and a faithful churchgoer—admitted that hefound the idea of church discipline outdated. “There’s onlyone kind of discipline that’s relevant in the North AmericanChurch today, and that’s self-discipline,” he said. Hispoint, if I understood him correctly, was that, rather thaninstituting corporate policies and practices that call peopleto account, church leaders should devote their energies tohelping individuals develop spiritual practices and moralconvictions that serve to discipline their own lives.I couldn’t tell if my friend lamented this situation ornot. Did he think that disciplinary procedures were themselvesa problem? Or were my friend’s observations simplypragmatic, based upon the assumption that corporatediscipline was no longer practical, given the way churchlife functions in contemporary North America?I suspect it was the latter, and for good reason. Nearlyeveryone who studies long-term trends in North Americanchurch life will tell you that a consumerist orientationhas more or less won the day, particularly in Protestantcircles. The fact of the matter is this: North Americanchurches compete with one another for adherents, andmany adherents choose a particular church based on thegoods and services they find there. That’s not to suggestthat these adherents don’t contribute anything to theirchurches; it’s rather to say that, in the process of makingthose contributions, most churchgoers conduct an informalcost-benefit analysis. If the costs are too high andthe benefits too low, they will likely start to shop around.This market analogy sounds crass, Iknow, but my own experience bearsit out. A year ago my wifeand I left one church,and we now attend another. Although the process ofleaving our former church was emotionally wrenching,we were ultimately attracted to our new church becauseof its perceived benefits: Not only was it nearer to ourrecently purchased home, but it offered theologicalemphases we valued, a worship style we enjoyed, andready-made peer groups for our pre-adolescent sons.Changing churches once in a 10-year span may not makeme a pathological church shopper, but compared to mygrandfather—who was born, baptized, and buried in thecontext of one congregation—I’m a ready participant inAmerica’s religious marketplace.Church discipline in a religious marketplaceWhether we like it or not, this marketplace analogyhas real implications for how we think about disciplinein the Church today.Traditional models of discipline as practiced by Brethrenin Christ congregations in the past were developedduring a time when churches were more akin to familiesthan marketplaces. Think about a family: Not only is afamily comprised of relatively few people, but the membersare “familiar” with one another. Moreover, unlike ourfavorite stores and restaurants, families are not somethingwe choose. We may not appreciate everything about ourfamilies, but we don’t typically go shopping for anotherone. In fact, ongoing connections with family membersare assumed, and it’s considered tragic if those connectionsare broken—much more tragic than if we breakour ties with our favorite home improvement store.To be sure, most of you reading these words are morecommitted to your local churches than you are to HomeDepot or Lowe’s. Still, it’s possible that your local churchis more akin to your favorite store than it is to yourbiological family. And that means traditional disciplinarypractices don’t work very well, because consumers, when