DISCIPLINE
What should be our attitude to a neighbouring assembly, where moral or doctrinal evil is allowed to go on unjudged?

I presume what is meant by “moral or doctrinal evil” is something grave and fundamental, and not merely differences of judgement as to such questions as the exact rules to be followed at the Lord’s table, or regulations as to ministry. We have no authority in God’s Word as far as I can see, for cutting off an assembly, but we are not obliged to have fellowship with every assembly.

The Lord in His messages to the Seven Churches of Asia (Revelation 2: and Revelation 3: has to reprove Ephesus for “leaving her first love”; Pergamos for allowing among them those holding the doctrine of Balaam, or the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes; Thyatira for  “suffering that woman Jezebel.. . to teach and seduce God’s servants”; Sardis for dead-alive profession; and Laodicea for luke-warmness and self-satisfaction. Yet, though in each case appeal is made to him “who hath an ear to hear what is said unto the churches,” in no case is one church, or alliance of churches, instructed to deal in discipline with some other church.

Not even in the case of Smyrna or Philadelphia, with which no fault was found, is any such instruction given. Is there then nothing to be done? Clearly the exhortation “to hear” what is said to the churches, shows that no church should be indifferent to the state of other churches. Prayer for the erring church must be ever in season, and godly exhortation by word or letter always permissible. But what should be done if all prove abortive? Then all direct contact with the assembly as such must be avoided. It is she who is morally responsible for shutting her doors against those who stand for truth and righteousness. Can we imagine Smyrna having practical fellowship with Pergamos, or Philadelphia exchanging platforms with Thyatira? But the modem method, if we rule out “inferences” and “logical deductions”, of excommunicating churches or groups of churches, is profoundly foreign to Scripture.

W.H.

• Are Christians now like the church of Laodicea?
• Are elders responsible to God for the affairs of the church?
• Are elders supposed to be paid for their work?
• Are overseers failing to do their work because of the burden of deacon work they assume?
• Are some overseers entitled to more spiritual weight than others?
• Are the bread and the cup symbols or types?
• Are there musical instruments in heaven and why will they be used during the Millennium?
• Are there ways to improve our singing?
• At what point must one be put away from the assembly as a covetous person or a railer (1 Corinthians
• Can a brother be told not to participate in the meetings of an assembly?
• Can a Church use more than one cup and still show communion?
• Can a company claim to be an assembly and still have doctrinal errors?
• Can a person be put away for "domestic railing"?
• Can a single person be an elder?
• Can a sister in the assembly say "Amen" to a brother's prayer?
• Can a sister shepherd or teach a brother?
• Can an elder
• Can an overseer withdraw from the oversight?
• Can social discipline be lifted for a person who has been put away from the assembly?
• Can the physical defects of worshipers in Israel be applied to the church today?
• Did Christ eat the bread and drink the cup when he instituted the Lord's Supper?
• Did Judas Iscariot participate in the Lord's supper?
• Did Judas partake of the Lord
• Do overseers receive to or put away from the assembly?
• Do sisters have a responsibility in reception into the fellowship?
• Do the Scriptures guide only the husband to contribute financially to the church?
• Do the Scriptures teach that an overseer is to rule the Church?
• Do those who sympathize with a person under discipline hinder that person
• Do women violate the teaching of a woman
• Doctrine and Beliefs of Gospel Hall
• Does "breaking bread" in Acts always refer to the Lord's Supper?
• Does "doing all the right things" make a group of believers an assembly?
• Does 1 Timothy suggest a paid pastor position?
• Does an elder "assume" the position of leader or is he appointed?
• Does an elder have a more exalted position in the assembly than others?
• Does excommunication involve two forms of discipline?
• Does Matthew 18:20 apply only to "our assemblies"?
• Does the "house of God" refer to those under the influence of the church?
• Does the assembly have a say in the decision of commending a full-time evangelist?
• Does the Bible ever limit social contact between believers?
• Does the bread and the cup of the Lord
• Does the example of women publishing tidings about the Ark give weight to the idea of preaching?
• Does the head covering of a woman meant to cover her glory?
• Does the New Testament contain references to musical instruments in the church?
• Does the use of multiple loaves and cups at the Breaking of Bread indicate departure?
• How are deacons recognized and acknowledged?
• How are we to relate to an overseer and his authority?
• How can an assembly deal with damaging rumors about an assembly believer?
• How can believers be united today?
• How can broken trust between elders and believers be restored?
• How can I gracefully refuse an invitation to a church that I know is practicing wrong teachings?
• How can I help to make our assembly Bible Readings edifying?
• How can the content of gospel messages be made interesting?
• How can the Kingdom of God be like leaven, a symbol of evil?
• How can we help visitors understand New Testament teaching about assembly reception?
• How could elders fulfill their responsibilities without being overburdened by "other things"?
• How could the Lord acknowledge an assembly when it had departed so far (Revelation 2 and 3)?
• How did New Testament believers break bread?
• How do I respond when the overseers change their view in discretionary matters?
• How do we "make disciples" and fulfill the Great Commission?
• How do we properly display reverence for the Lord
• How do we unify the Church?
• How does a brother know what hymns to suggest at the Breaking of Bread?
• How does a deacon differ from an elder?
• How does an assembly recognize its elders?
• How does an elder
• How does one decide who is an overseer?
• How does the Spirit guide a meeting?
• How extensively can a woman serve God in an assembly?
• How long before a person put away from the assembly can be forgiven and comforted?
• How long should a believer wait before being baptized?
• How many cups should an assembly use at the Lord's Supper?
• How should a Christian dress for Church?
• How should a man prepare for overseership?
• How should an assembly approach the subject of homosexuality?
• How should an assembly communicate the desicion to send out a full-time evangelist?
• How should assembly believers handle rumors about the further wrong behavior of a person put away fr
• How should elders treat believers who show no change of life after professing faith in Christ?
• How should we treat a christian who marries an unbeliever?
• How would an oversight remove a fellow-overseer from that responsibility?
• I would rather be part of a different assembly farther away. What should I do?
• If a damaging rumor about a believer proves to be false, should the person be cleared publicly?
• If a sister meets with the elders, should her head be covered?
• If God calls a brother to preach the gospel, how would he approach commendation?
• If Jesus was good then why did people hate him?
• If overseers entrust deacon work to a person who is not "blameless," what can other believers do?
• If the cup is not a type, must we use wine and not simply "the fruit of the vine"?
• In a new work, is there a danger of encouraging some to take oversight prematurely?
• In what ways can believers help an elder to fulfill his responsibility?
• In what ways can elders help develop others
• Is
• Is a deacon
• Is a head covering and woman
• Is allowing 5 to 15 minutes For ministry after the Breaking of Bread merely tradition?
• Is discipline in the church carried out by all members or just the elders?
• Is Easter a biblical term or a pagan tradition?
• Is it appropriate to give out a hymn between partaking of the bread and drinking from the cup?
• Is it just believers in the free world who seem to be spared from the persecution?
• Is it not dishonoring to the Lord for a brother to pray publicly with a hand in his pocket?
• Is it part of your doctrine that Gospel Hall members do not attend other Christian churches?
• Is it possible for a brother whose home is in disorder to be an elder?
• Is it right for a full-time preacher to also be an assembly elder?
• Is it right to divide an assembly and form another within reach of the existing one?
• Is it scriptural to use more than one cup for the Lord's Supper?
• Is it still an assembly when the believers do all the right things, but don
• Is it wrong for Christians to call it Easter?
• Is it wrong to exclude a believer from fellowship because of doctrinal differences?
• Is remembering the Lord a privilege of the Church?
• Is respectable Christian behavior a prerequisite for baptism?
• Is Song of Solomon about the Church and Christ?
• Is Sunday the Sabbath Day?
• Is the bread a symbol of the Church?
• Is the breaking of bread the same as the communion service?
• Is the Bride mentioned in the Psalm Israel or the Church?
• Is the Christian bride
• Is the collection a part of the worship at the breaking of bread?
• Is the covering on a sister
• Is the expression "the whole assembly receives and the whole assembly puts away" scriptural?
• Is the Gospel Hall similar to the group The Church of Christ?
• Is the head covering a symbol to teach the angels?
• Is the living bread from heaven, the same as the bread of the church communion?
• Is the Lord
• Is the Lord present only in the meeting of the Lord's Supper?
• Is the Lord's Supper for this dispensation or another?
• Is the offending brother in Matthew 18 execommunited from the church?
• Is the role of an elder's wife as significant as her husbands?
• Is the silence of women a cultural custom or a Biblical mandate?
• Is the Song of Solomon a figure of the church?
• Is there a difference between being gathered to His name and being gathered to Him?
• Is there a difference in the treatment of those put away from the assembly and those who leave the f
• Must an assembly act with unanimous consent?
• Must an assembly receive practicing homosexuals?
• Must sisters cover their heads at weddings and funerals?
• Must there be only one bread and one cup used at the Lord
• Should a believer be baptized before joining the fellowship of believers?
• Should a believer be removed from fellowship if he stops attending meetings of the assembly?
• Should a Christian bride-to-be wear a head covering?
• Should a church excommunicate a disagreeable person?
• Should a person who is being disciplined by the assembly be present at the discipline meeting?
• Should a sister meet with the elders to discuss doctrinal issues?
• Should a woman be silent in Church? Can a woman speak in church?
• Should a woman not teach a Sunday school class?
• Should all the men in an assembly share in preaching the gospel?
• Should an elder leave his responsibilities when assembly problems overwhelm him?
• Should an entire church meet together to discuss business matters?
• Should assembly overseers retire when they reach a certain age?
• Should believers take a letter of recommendation when visiting other assemblies?
• Should business matters of the church be settled by the elders?
• Should Christians practice tithing to the church?
• Should church put you on a guilt trip?
• Should consideration always make room for the ministry of visiting brothers?
• Should fermented wine be used in the Lord's Supper?
• Should one assembly judge errors in another?
• Should only believers in the fellowship participate in the Lord's Supper?
• Should prayers of worship be organized like a sermon?
• Should seating for observers at assembly meetings and for those in the fellowship be separate?
• Should sisters ccover their heads at events outside of the assembly where the Bible is being read?
• Should the bread be unleavened and the wine unfermented?
• Should the Church worship like the priests of the Old Testament?
• Should the discipline of one assembly be made known in another?
• Should the Lord's Supper be practiced at night?
• Should the Scriptures be read at the meeting to remember the Lord?
• Should unbelievers or believers not in the fellowship do work around the Hall?
• Should we vote for deacons or elders?
• Should young children be baptized?
• Shouls someone "break" the loaf before distributing it during the Lord's Supper?
• To whom can believers go if the elders seem unapproachable?
• Under what conditions are we not to have fellowship with one "who is called a brother" (1 Corinthian
• Under what conditions would laboring men who planted an assembly step in to guide that flock?
• Were the 7 men appointed in Acts 6 "deacons"?
• Were there two classes of Apostles?
• What are some examples of deacon work?
• What are the conditions for reception to an assembly?
• What are we to learn about the significance bread and wine in relation to the Lord’s supper?
• What becomes the role of those God has used in planting an assembly?
• What can believers do for a believer who is the subject of damaging rumors?
• What constitutes an assembly gathering in which sisters wear a head covering?
• What did "church" mean to the disciples?
• What did the disciples understand by the phrase "gathered together unto My Name"?
• What do I do if I disagree with the leaders of my church?
• What do we do when an overseer assumes one-man ministry?
• What does "fellowship" mean in regards to the church?
• What does "having faithful children" of an elder mean?
• What does "the husband is the head of the wife" (Ephesians 5:23) mean?
• What does an assembly lose when its sisters fall short of the involvement God intends for them?
• What does the Bible mean about women learning in silence and submission in 1 Timothy 2:12-15?
• What does the Bible say about "full-time" minister work?
• What does the Bible say about women pastors in ministry?
• What does the New Testament teach that a deacon is?
• What does the phrase "to put away" from an assembly mean?
• What guidance does God
• What happens if an assembly is slow or mistaken in recognizing an elder?
• What is the gift of speaking in tongues?
• What is the main thrust of Matthew 18?
• What is the meaning of blameless as related to deacons?
• What is the meaning of the cup and bread in remembering the Lord?
• What is the minimum age for baptizing a believer or receiving him into the assembly?
• What is the New Testament
• What is the place of instrumental music in New Testament teaching?
• What is the proper order for the breaking of bread meeting?
• What is the proper use of assembly funds?
• What is the relationship between railing and physical abuse?
• What is the relationship of a full-time worker to his home assembly?
• What is the rock that Jesus promisee that the Church would be built on?
• What is the role of an elder in a local assembly?
• What is the role of elders in assembly reception?
• what is the significance of the first day of the week following the Passover?
• What is the significance of the two head coverings in 1 Corinthians 11?
• What is the sin of "railing"?
• What is “Good Friday,” and why do people call it “good”?
• What kind of church work is deacon service?
• What kind of person is suited for full-time evangelism?
• What kind of unity did the Lord pray for in John 17?
• What makes a group of believers a church?
• What principles give guidance for ministry in an assembly?
• What qualifications should a preacher meet?
• What scriptures guide overseers in interviewing believers for assembly fellowship?
• What should a church teach about homosexuality?
• What should we do if two assemblies can't cooperate well on a joint project?
• What time of day should the church celebrate the Lord's Supper?
• What will encourage believers to invite visitors to weekly gospel meetings?
• When an assembly begins, how are its overseers recognized?
• When can a newly baptized believer be received into the fellowship of an assembly?
• When does the "breaking of the bread" take place?
• When should a church collect money?
• When Should Sisters Wear Head Coverings?
• When should the church celebrate the Lord's supper?
• When some dissent, are the assembly's decisions therefore not binding?
• When the behavior of some in the assembly is disrespectful or irreverent, how can I be helpful to th
• Who can be the object of railing?
• Who has the authority to "put away" someone from a church?
• Who partakes at the Lord
• Who recognizes overseers in a new assembly?
• Why did our Lord, though not partaking of the bread when instituting His supper, drink of the cup?
• Why do Christians drink wine at the Lord's Supper but at no other time?
• Why does the church share a cup for the wine?
• Why does the church use one loaf of bread?
• Why have a Bible class or ministry meeting during Sunday School?
• Why is the Breaking of Bread inseparable from an assembly?
• Why is the resurrection of Christ so important to believers in Christ?
• Why would an elder monopolize the assembly
• Would assembly-sponsored summer camps be helpful?