What whould your church do?

Follow the Biblical pattern of discipline. God gave us the instructions...we just need to follow them .

 

ditto. We had someone post some things on facebook, we responded on facebook and told them we saw what they were writing and they ought to stop. When they didn't stop, we "de-friended" them.

 

Number 2. The Lord expects the church to exercise discipline among it's members and not allow such behavior like this to continue,if the person is an adult. If the offending party is a child a conference needs to be called with his or her parents or care takers.

 

I agree. #2 with love and gentleness. Remember the goal is to get them to repent if possible.

Welcome to the board. You are close to me if you are in Haverhill, OH. I am in Jackson.

 

Depends on what is "inappropriate" about it. If it is obscene or prurient or otherwise sexual in nature, go to them. If it is slanderous, go to them. If it is blatantly vulgar, go to them. But go to them with the intent on reconciliation and make that happen if at all possible. Make sure you listen to that person and do your best to keep it calm, edifying and loving in nature.

If it is a differing opinion, especially theological in nature, tread carefully. Sometimes we must be patient and understanding regarding other people's faith and maturity. In other words, if it is merely immature, don't worry so much about it.

 

The typical Baptist (and more generally American) response is to cut and run, but you don't necessarily have to do that. That's why the Church today is so fragmented and judgmental. Even if you don't have authority to do anything permanent, you can still approach them in a spirit of love and reconciliation. Make separation (yours or theirs) a last resort.

 

I really don't know. I'm miffed that we have a person on the music ministry team living with her boyfriend.

 

At one of the churches that I pastored we had a lady that allowed her boyfriend to live with her. She was a nice person that regularly attended. My wife befriended her and she confided in my wife that she wanted to come forward and join the church, but that she was afraid to do so because of the housing arrangement. I think she wanted to see what my wife would say about how I would address the issue. She never came forward to join.

 

She's on the music ministry team? I would think living with her boyfriend would disqualify her.

As to the original, # 2 is the way to go.

 

I would first question the accuracy of what you THINK you saw.

Some believers are kinda "out there" and would consider someone saying "holy cow" as profanity and the discussion of pants vs culottes to be a sexual reference.

Do you happen to be one of those extremists, maybe here following someone on the board, or is this just a honest case of you having run across one of your church members somewhere else on the internet, and they're really doing evil things, and you really don't know what to do about it? I'm not trying to be mean, but I've had it happen to me before...where someone from a rather extremist church the next town over called my church to report that I was no longer KJV only and try to cause problems and doubts about my Christianity. So forgive me if I sound a little hesitant...especially since you've said this person is part of your own church. Sounds just a tad bit...familiar.

 

I have unsaved friends on FB who post stuff I don't like but that is the nature of the beast- they are LOST, after all. Now if there were professing Christians posting such I would privately rebuke them.

 

Sounds to me as if he needs counseling badly. We discovered that a regular attendee, not a member, was on the sex offender list. We worked with this individual, setting up guidelines to both protect our children and also to protect this individual from being falsely accused of bothering any of the children. For instance this person would be accompanied to the rest room or when going to another part of the church.

We also worked in helping find a Christian counselor.

I would suggest you contact your the insurance company through which the church has liability insurance. They will help set up guidelines, at least ours did. But if a church knowingly has such a person the insurance company may cancel the polity, or refuse to honor it is a suit is brought against the pastor or the church.

This is a tough problem.

One good thing came out of our experience. A man who had been burned very badly when he was the pastor of a church began attending the church and has become a very valuable member. He came when he heard we were working with the individual and not condemning him or refusing to work with him. Before beginning to attend our church he had vowed that he would never darken the door of a church again.

 

Cast the devil out of the person.

 

In the immortal words of George W. Bush when he couldn't pronounce Ahamadina-whatever's name, "Yeah, I think it's that second guy you mentioned".

((And for you Bush fans, I'm not making fun of him. As you can see, I can't spell his name either and I think it was really Bush's way of mocking him more than a real inability to say his name.))

 

Cast the demon out in Jesus name.