Church discipline is designed to promote godly change. As our heavenly parent, God is a perfect illustration of this as Hebrews 12:5f illustrates. Further, parents who follow God’s Word do this with their children; they discipline them, not to hurt them, but to cause them to grow.

Some of the purposes of Church Discipline include healing, correction, and protection of the purity of a church. Sin that is not dealt with, like leaven, has a way of permeating the body of Christ and the life of the individual, always to their harm (see 1 Cor. 5). Church discipline is one of the ways God seeks to get believers to deal with their sin when they persist in sinful behavior as illustrated in 1 Corinthians 5. For more information, see the article entitled Church Discipline on our web site.