Baptists on the early American frontier were known for practicing church discipline, wrote Donald F. Durnbaugh in “The Believer’s Church: The History and Character of Radical Protestantism.” Baptist forebear Thomas Helwys, for example, held “censures” every Sunday afternoon after worship to TRONG>RELATED STORIES TRONG>  TRONG>CHURCH GOVERNANCE: PART ONE - Feb. 28, 2005 TRONG>» Congregationalism takes multiple forms within Baptist context TRONG>» Once a church staple, discipline cases rare TRONG>» What constitutes a local church?   TRONG>CHURCH GOVERNANCE: PART TWO - April 4, 2005 TRONG>» Successes and failures come in all church governance shapes and sizes TRONG>» Tug of war over authority often fuels conflict TRONG>» Pastor firings always sin on someone’s part, SBTC ministry leader argues TRONG>» Misuse of ‘priesthood of believers’ challenged pastor leadership TRONG>» LifeWay reports 913 pastors fired in 2003 ensure discipline among the congregation, Durnbaugh noted.   Such censuring is the common notion of church discipline, though a broader definition includes all practices that contribute to a healthy New Testament congregation, wrote Southern Baptist theologian J.W. MacGorman in “The People of God: Essays on the Believers’ Church.”   “How believers were related to each other as an expression of the body of Christ; how they comported themselves in the midst of a pagan society; how the ministries of the churches were organized and the ordinances were observed; how the essentials of the faith were formulated into confessional statements and their history—these were the positive features of church discipline,” MacGorman wrote.   History shows legalistic excesses among some Reformation groups, which is a danger, Durnbaugh wrote. But, he added, “It is clear to contemporary observers of church life in the western world that excessive discipline is not a problem. Rather, it is the almost universal absence of meaningful requirements for church membership that threatens church life.”   Since Durnbaugh wrote that statement in 1968, some Baptist churches have begun requiring membership classes or member covenants, replacing the simple statement by letter with the traditional congregational vote following a worship service.   But the corrective aspect of discipline—most severely what Paul commanded of the Corinthians concerning the man who was sleeping with his father’s wife (likely his stepmother), to “turn that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord (1 Corinthians 5:5, HCS)”—is rare, simply judging by rampant divorce rates among evangelical Christians.   Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler described church discipline as “the missing mark” in an article for “The Compromised Church,” republished in “Baptist Polity.”   “The decline of church discipline is perhaps the most visible failure of the contemporary church,” he wrote. “No longer concerned with maintaining purity of confession or lifestyle, the contemporary church sees itself as a voluntary association of autonomous members, with minimal moral accountability to God, much less to each other.” Added to correct doctrine and pure administration of the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, evangelicals recognize the practice of church discipline as the “third mark” of the authentic church, Mohler stated. And yet, Mohler said thousands of American congregations long ago abandoned this essential mark. “Fearing lawsuits and lacking courage, these churches allow sin to go unconfronted, and heresy to grow unchecked.”