I've attended two churches where church discipline was enacted.
The one, 1981 or 2 ... a man that believed he had been called to the pastorate had witheld his tithe for about a year before it became obvious it was his witholding that produced the drop in finances.
His reasoning was that he was waiting for God to show him the church he was to pastor and that he would need that money to 'start' the church.
Our pastor's efforts to show, biblically, that while attending the local church his tithe belonged there came to naught.
The predicament was brought before the deacons, (He, BTW, was one .. )and a couple of men went to talk to him with our pastor and finally the situatuion was brought before the church.
I was a new Christian at the time, so I wasn't all that knowledgeable about what was going on at the time.
I believe he was voted out of the membership ... but I'm not really sure ... he might have just left.
The second was a man in the church I now attend.
He had been a mambar for some years and utilised a thirteen year old girl, also from our church, to baby sit.
When the girl was 14, he had sufficiently 'wooed' this young girl (He, BTW was married) into having sex .
The parents found out and called the pastor.
(The mother and the man's wife were good friends .. the wife had a suspicion, but no evidence ... the wife was ultimately very helpful in bringing this situation to a close).
Pastor went to the man to ask him to repent and approach the father of the girl for forgiveness, he refused.
A couple of deacons went and tried ... refused.
The man was caught by the father late at night outside the girls' window and he beat him with a ball bat, called pastor, the cops and was charged.
Before the legal system got really going, the man was invited to come before the congregation (everyone knew by this time) and he refused.
He was removed from membership, was convicted in court and is serving time right now.
That is the proper way to administer it. Biblical and fair with more than one chance to repent.
How terribly unchristian. /sarcasm
the guy should have been reported to the authorities the first time. Church discipline doesn't apply to criminal matters.