Church Discipline and Moral Reformation in the Thought of Martin Bucer

The Homosexuality Debate in Malawi

“…352 The word excommunication means putting a specific individual or group out of communion. 353 A lengthy process of counselling and warning an individual should precede the sanction of excommunication. 354 When the sinner refuses to heed admonition to repent, after being disciplined, then the final step of excommunication should be taken.…”

“…This is more than simple exclusion from the Lord's Supper; it means the elimination from the total life of the church. 355 Paul uses the phrase "Deliver this man to Satan" (1 Cor 5: 5) to refer to excommunication and is equivalent to purging the evil from the church (cf. 1 Cor 5: 13).…”

From Martin Bucer to Richard Baxter: “Discipline” and Reformation in Sixteenthand Seventeenth-Century England

“…7 Fresh from what appeared to be the crushing defeat of reformation in Strasbourg, he hoped to help his adopted Church of England avoid the disaster that had struck the Protestant churches of his homeland-a disaster that had occurred, he was convinced, through their neglect of discipline. 8 Bucer's understanding of church discipline, championed during his remaining months in England, evolved during his twenty-five years of ministry in Strasbourg. 9 Bucer's discipline incorporated four interrelated elements into the life of the church: Public profession of faith and of obedience to the church and its pastors as a prerequisite to participation in Communion (most effectively implemented through an involved process of confirmation); catechetical instruction and private oversight of children and adults through regular meetings between the pastor and his parishioners; the oversight of morality in the parish by the pastor and lay elders, combined with the exercise of mutual admonition amongst the members; and the establishment of a disciplinary process along with the use of penance to promote either notorious sinners' repentance or their exclusion from Communion and the community through excommunication.…”