Withdraw Yourselves<\/a>,” but it has a lot of details.<\/p>\nJust because a person has been withdrawn from, it doesn’t mean he will listen to the church. I have heard of people who continue to attend because they thought the church was in error or because they wanted to annoy those who took a stand against them.<\/p>\n
Withdrawal means that all ties are severed. The person is to be treated the same as any other non-Christian (Matthew 18:17). This doesn’t mean you are rude or harsh with the person (II Thessalonians 3:15), but that you don’t associate with him (II Thessalonians 3:14). You don’t ask him about how his week had been. You don’t invite him to join the other Christians who are going out for a snack (I Corinthians 5:11). In other words, you avoid him as best you can (II Thessalonians 3:6; Romans 16:17; II John 9-11). If he asks to join the brethren in some activity, you politely reject his request (Titus 3:10).<\/p>\n
We don’t practice closed communion. If someone invites himself to partake, we won’t stop him, but we also won’t go out of our way to offer the Lord’s Supper to him either. If he comes to services, he should basically be ignored or politely asked if he has considered leaving his sins.<\/p>\n
Each congregation is autonomous. One congregation cannot tell another congregation what to do. If a congregation asks if someone is a member of the congregation, a letter can be sent telling them briefly of the situation. If a congregation knows someone is going around spreading false doctrine, the congregation can warn neighboring congregations to be careful. If someone is a well-known brother and it is believed he is using his former connection to the congregation to advance himself, then again, a notice can be sent that he is no longer associated with the congregation.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Greetings Brother Hamilton, I am concerned about the withdrawal of membership from a brother in sin. I read through your notes on fellowship and understood them, but I want to be precise. When a brother is withdrawn from fellowship with other Christians, can he still come to worship but is prevented from partaking in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[254],"class_list":["post-66823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-withdrawal"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27471,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-we-do-if-a-withdrawn-from-relative-comes-to-a-family-gathering\/","url_meta":{"origin":66823,"position":0},"title":"What do we do if a withdrawn-from relative comes to a family gathering?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 19, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was just reading your answer to a young man about\u00a0his brother in regard to I Corinthians 5:11.\u00a0 My husband's family has a similar situation with his older brother.\u00a0 His brother claims to still be a believer but left the fellowship at the church my father-in-law planted due to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3177,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-there-exceptions-to-withdrawal\/","url_meta":{"origin":66823,"position":1},"title":"Are there exceptions to withdrawal?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 11, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been studying the issue of fellowship within the family. In other words, I have family who are erring brethren and walk not as God has commanded. In accordance with I Corinthians 5 and other verses which say \"not even to eat,\" are there guidelines or principles for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57513,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-fellowship-with-someone-who-left-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":66823,"position":2},"title":"Do you fellowship with someone who left the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If someone leaves the church and you try to encourage them to come back, are you to fellowship with them? Answer: Fellowship describes the state of a relationship between two people. It is like the word \"friendship.\" Friends do things together, but just because you do something with another\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66857,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-one-congregation-withdraw-from-another-congregation\/","url_meta":{"origin":66823,"position":3},"title":"Can one congregation withdraw from another congregation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 2, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can a church withdraw from Christians who are not members of the local congregation? 1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mark those who cause division and hindrances -\u00a0Romans 16:17 2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Philippians 3:17\u00a0- Mark those who are good examples 3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Galatians 5:15\u00a0- Don't bite and devour each other. C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Can a church withdraw from another church? Hey Brother Hamilton!\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26819,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-congregation-restore-a-person-who-was-disfellowshipped-by-another-congregation\/","url_meta":{"origin":66823,"position":4},"title":"Can a congregation restore a person who was disfellowshipped by another congregation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can a congregation restore a person who was disfellowshipped by another congregation? Answer: Members of a congregation withdraw their fellowship of someone in their midst who is living a sinful life. See\u00a0Withdraw Yourselves for details. Membership in a congregation and the fellowship that ensues is done on a local\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23840,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/cross-congregational-fellowship\/","url_meta":{"origin":66823,"position":5},"title":"Cross Congregational Fellowship","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Christians do travel. This is an obvious statement, but it needs to be pointed out because it raises issues we don't often consider. A Christian drops in on a congregation while in town for business. It is common for brethren to invite him over for a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/trailmap-300x201.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66823\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}