Understanding Church Discipline (Church Basics)
Church Basics
by Jonathan Leeman
Why You'll Love This
Most churches quietly abandoned church discipline — this slim book makes a careful, uncomfortable case for why that was a mistake.
- Great if you want: a biblical, no-nonsense case for a misunderstood church practice
- The experience: dense but fast — serious theology in a 80-page, no-fluff format
- The writing: Leeman writes like a lawyer building a case — logical, direct, persuasive
- Skip if: you want nuanced pastoral case studies rather than foundational argument
About This Book
Few topics in church life feel more fraught than discipline — the act of formally confronting, and sometimes removing, a member caught in unrepentant sin. Jonathan Leeman takes this uncomfortable subject head-on, arguing that what modern churches have largely abandoned is actually an expression of profound love: for the individual, for the congregation, for the watching community, and for the honor of Christ. Rather than treating discipline as a relic of harsher times, Leeman makes the case that its disappearance has quietly cost churches their integrity and their witness.
What works so well here is the economy of the writing. At just 80 pages, this slim volume wastes nothing — Leeman moves with pastoral clarity from biblical foundation to practical application, anticipating the objections readers will bring and addressing them directly without condescension. The tone is measured and honest rather than combative, which makes the argument land harder than a polemical treatment ever could. Part of the Church Basics series, it is designed to be placed in the hands of ordinary church members, and it reads exactly that way: accessible without being shallow, and genuinely useful rather than merely informative.