Toolbox for Skillful Shepherding
Member Condition | Spiritual Danger | Proper Response | Scriptural Support |
Living fruitfully | Failing to Continue | Encourage; Praise | 1 Thess 4:1; Phil 2:29 |
Lacking information | Doctrinal Ignorance | Teach; Instruct | 1 Cor 12:1; 1 Thess 4:13; Acts 18:26 |
Needing to get moving | Laziness; Neglect | Exhort; Spur On; Urge | Heb 5:11-12; 6:12; 10:24; 2 Cor 9:4-5 |
Suffering Trial | Discouragement | Comfort; Console | 2 Cor 1:4; 7:6 |
Starting to Go Astray | New Sin Pattern | Warn; Correct; Admonish | Titus 3:10; 1 Cor 4:14; Luke 9:54-55; Matt 16:23 |
Determined to Wander | Habitual Sin | Rebuke | Rev 3:18-19; Titus 1:12-13; Gal 2:11 |
Stubborn Unrepentance | Apostasy | Excommunicate | Matt 18:17; 1 Cor 5:5 |
Andrew M. Davis, “The Practical Issues of Church Discipline,” in Those Who Must Give an Account: A Study of Church Membership and Church Discipline, ed. John S. Hammett and Benjamin L. Merkle (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2012), 172.