# Excommunication and being a minister?



## jwright82 (Oct 14, 2011)

I was just curious can a person who has been excommunicated and been reinstated to good standing then become a minister? I'm trying to figure out all the little ins and outs of our church life.


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## Scott1 (Oct 14, 2011)

Ex-communication is only for extreme, sustained impenitence.

We may have example of someone in Scripture being excommunicated then who repented and came back into the fold, but it appears to be very rare.

Office requires, among other things, an exemplary, not a perfect, but an exemplary life pattern, and there are qualifications regarding reputation- both inside and outside the church (cf I Timothy 3 and Titus I), as well as for the spouse if the officer is married.

Scripture tells us one who hears and partakes of the church has all the more condemnation for rejecting it. We have indication that it is extremely difficult to bring someone back from that. (cf Hebrews 6:4-8)

And then to install them in leadership as God's appointed for the benefit of His people.

We have every indication it is very very unlikely.

But, we would have to say, even in the realm of what appears to be extremely unlikely:


> Matthew 19:26
> But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.


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## TimV (Oct 14, 2011)

> We may have example of someone in Scripture being excommunicated then who repented and came back into the fold, but it appears to be very rare.



James, there have been several threads like yours over the years, and what Scott said is a fair consensus summation of all of them.


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## Edward (Oct 14, 2011)

I've seen pastors placed under discipline, been rehabilitated, and who then received new calls. I've never heard of someone being excommunicated and then returning and receiving a call. I'd think it would be a quite rare happening.


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## Don Kistler (Oct 14, 2011)

Interestingly enough (at least to me), by 1662 53 of the living members members of the Westminster Assembly were excommunicated by the Church of England, a church that still believed at that time in church discipline and in justification by faith alone.


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## jwright82 (Oct 15, 2011)

O.K., so even if they repent they cannot after a period of "good" and godly behavior become an officer in the church?


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## TimV (Oct 15, 2011)

The way it came up often before was that "public scandal" was a hole very, very difficult to climb out of for a minister.


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## jwright82 (Oct 15, 2011)

TimV said:


> The way it came up often before was that "public scandal" was a hole very, very difficult to climb out of for a minister.



Oh yeah I understand that. But what if it were more quiet? It happened and it was resolved and then that person decided, or was asked, to be a church officer. What then?

---------- Post added at 08:21 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:20 AM ----------

And if it is O.K. should such a person even bother mentioning that they were excommunicated and then repented and was restored to fellowship?


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## Edward (Oct 15, 2011)

jwright82 said:


> And if it is O.K. should such a person even bother mentioning that they were excommunicated and then repented and was restored to fellowship?



The cover up would be worse than the fact that the person had been disciplined and then reconciled. Certainly the facts that you have given should give rise to a diligent examination by the appropriate church court. Folks might get excommunicated in some congregations for conduct that might not be seen as egregious in others. Or a subsequent track record might show that the discipline was effective. And the original offense should be explored. 



jwright82 said:


> It happened and it was resolved and then that person decided, or was asked, to be a church officer. What then?


 We are missing the timeline here. A lot of water should pass under the bridge so that a determination can be made as to the the post-discipline track record. 

It's not impossible, but it should be rare.


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