[Charles Henrickson]

Tiller wouldn't have been given a bull of excommunication by surprise. He would have been confronted first in private, then in the presence of a few witnesses, then maybe in the parish council (not always the last one). In other words, he had to have been pretty flagrant to get excommunicated.

You are almost certainly right. Excommunication is a last step, after previous futile admonition.

[lightman]

Tiller wouldn't have been given a bull of excommunication by surprise. He would have been confronted first in private, then in the presence of a few witnesses, then maybe in the parish council (not always the last one). In other words, he had to have been pretty flagrant to get excommunicated.

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.