Discipline and Restoring
The Constitution of the Missionary Church (Article XVI: District Conferences subtitle E: Ministers, section 7: Discipline of Ministers. P.32) details the process to the discipline and removal of discipline (restoration) of a pastor.
All members in the church are expected to conduct their lives according to the standards set forth in Scripture and those who hold positions of ministerial leadership in the church are held to an even stricter accountability. Such conduct includes moral purity, personal honesty, and biblical fidelity. Ministers are to be consistent examples of authentic Christianity as they seek to emulate the character of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and exemplify the promotion of the unity of the church rather than seeking to divide it.
The purpose of Discipline includes the following:
Encouraging the sinning member to repent, thus restoring him/her to fellowship with Christ and the church
Warning other members against such sin.
Upholding and maintaining the moral purity and blameless testimony of the church.
Care needs to be taken that the entire process of Discipline be carried out and enforced in a spirit of Christian love, care and sensitivity with the underlying goal of restoration and the removal of Disciplinary Status and possible reinstatement.
Though not by design but from experience some of the Missionary Church leadership have been very effective at walking with pastors through the disciplinary process to the point of restoration and reinstatement to ministry. This is a sensitive but essential part of being the church so we encourage you to contact your leadership for direction.
One of our regional staff members is on the board of PIR (Partners in Pastor Renewal), a ministry that can come alongside churches and pastors in this very delicate process.