How do those who hold to a view of open communion practice church discipline?

Upvote:-1

during the Hitler era, the Lutherans in Germany did not refuse communion to those who belonged to the Nazi party.

The Catholic Church in Germany excommunicated the Nazis, and excommunicates cannot receive Holy Communion.

Another instance was when St. Ambrose of Milan (346-395 A.D.) excommunicated the Christian Roman emperor Thedosius I, who, out of excessive zeal and to make an example, ordered the massacre of 7,000 innocent spectators in an amphitheater of barbaric gladiatorial games in Thessalonica (390 A.D). St. Ambrose wrote him:

It grieves me that you, who were an example of singular piety, who exercised consummate clemency, who would not suffer individual offenders to be placed in jeopardy, should not mourn over the destruction of so many innocent persons … I dare not offer the Sacrifice if you determine to attend.

After 8 months of public penance, Theodosius was readmitted to the Church. St. Ambrose's said at his funeral 4 years later:

I loved him because, divesting himself of his regal state, he wept publicly for his sins and asked for pardon with groans and tears. I loved him because, Emperor as he was, he was not ashamed to do the public penance from which many of low degree shrink, and because he deplored his sin every day he lived.

—Rengers & Bunson, 35 Doctors of the Church, ch. 7 St. Ambrose

Saint Ambrose barring Theodosius from Milan Cathedral:

Upvote:3

From my experience, open communion is about being relatively open and welcoming at the entrance to the Christian community. It means:

  1. Regular church attendees do not need to become formal members to take communion
  2. And in fact, usually even visitors can take communion
  3. Partakers may not need to have previously professed their faith or confess any particular creed, or even be baptised (some churches may state that baptism is a requirement, but it wouldn't be enforced, instead trusting that those who have not been baptised will exclude themselves.)
  4. Partakers do not need to justify their worthiness prior to each communion service (unlike churches which, for example, issued communion tokens)

Behind all of these stands the principle that it is primarily ourselves who are predominantly responsible for ensuring that we partake in communion in a worthy manner, as taught in 1 Corinthians 11:28. This is just an extension of the fact that we are ultimately all responsible for our own actions and spiritual health.

But each person being responsible for themselves doesn't negate church discipline. Church discipline is initiated when the church leaders become aware of recurring unrepentant sin by someone in their congregation. When that happens the church discipline process begins, though there are many different forms. The goal is to lead the person to repentance and changing behaviour. When people do not immediately repent, there are many things that can happen, and allowing the person to still attend church services but restricting their participation in communion is a common consequence. So it's not a contradiction to have both open communion and excommunication as a method of church discipline.

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