How do decentralized churches/denominations practically deal with "brothers" from another denomination in light of Matthew 18:17

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Accepted answer

Short answer: Baptists would qualify as a "decentralized" denomination, and from a baptist perceptive, the answer is "we wouldn't deal with brothers from another church/denomination in that manner".

More details:

Baptists (in general) and other decentralized denominations tend to hold to the autonomy of the local Church. This means a single local congregation, typically a group that meets in one building under the care of one pastor. It precludes the very possibility of being accountable to anything other than the local Church that you are a member of.

References: 1 2 3

The membership of a particular local congregation is a voluntary thing. Nobody forces anyone to recognize a Church authority, we choose to join with like-minded brothers and sisters in Christ in a local Church. We voluntarily place ourselves under the authority of the Pastor of said Church, and discipline is typically handled through the deacons/Pastor/members that we have voluntarily chosen to bind ourselves to.

With that in mind, we recognize that if any brother or sister in Christ is in need of discipline, it is not our place to do so. We will speak to them, try to point out the error of their ways, and perhaps bring more than one brother in to try to talk sense into them, but the very idea of us having authority over anyone who has not willingly chosen to subject themselves to the authority of our particular Church is simply unthinkable. It makes no sense.

If subjecting ourselves to a Church's authority is voluntary, how can we possibly claim any authority over anyone that has not voluntarily chosen to align themselves with us?

It's not a matter of not recognizing that this person is a brother in Christ, it's just that we don't claim any sort of authority over that brother.

Upvote:0

I remember when Dr. Walter Martin, the "Bible Answer Man", met with a man regarding false doctrine and asked another member of that man's church to accompany him in accordance with this passage. That's how one man handled it.

Upvote:4

If appealing to authority is necessary, then you would have to appeal to authority that the brother in the wrong is submitting himself to. In this case, it would need to be someone in his congregation (or its hierarchy of authority).

The entire goal of the church discipline described in Mt 18 is to win him over to the truth. He ought to have close ties to the people in the congregation he's a part of, and so if those people must cut him off, the hope is that he will care about those lost/damaged relationships enough to reconsider what he's doing and repent.

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