You are almost certainly right. Excommunication is a last step, after previous futile admonition.
You are almost certainly right. Excommunication is a last step, after previous futile admonition
And, believe it or not, those steps (along with the Scriptural citation of Matthew 18:15-17) appear as a mandatory part of the Model Consitution for Congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (C15.01) Ironically, that Scriptural citation is the only Scripture directly quoted in that document.