PROACTIVE STEPS FOR SPECIFIC ORGANIZATIONS 4.0 Churches
Ch 4.1 Churches – Formal Membership Policy Sadly, church members sometimes engage in behavior that necessitates church discipline. Such discipline is biblical and consistent with nearly every church tradition, though some specific approaches vary (See, e.g., Matt. 18:1520). And, on occasion, those who have been disciplined by their church (or removed as members) have then sued.15 Thankfully, churches enjoy considerable freedom under the United States Constitution to govern themselves as they see fit,16 even when doing so causes injuries that would otherwise be actionable in court.17 But this freedom has limitations. Only those individuals who unite with a church have consented to the church’s authority over them.18 In order for a church to have the best claim to immunity against an alleged injury that resulted from church
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discipline,19 the alleged victim must have been a church member when the discipline occurred. This is very difficult to determine if the church does not have a formal membership policy. Churches that are not incorporated and not LCMS member congregations, like some mission starts without formal members, must be aware that they potentially enjoy less protection from legal liability when they impose church discipline on those who merely attend church.20 This does not mean that a church should adopt a form of government to which it does not subscribe. For example, members are not necessarily voting members in the congregational model, but may be designated as members through some other model in which they affirm they are committed to and part of a church body, even if there is no voting or say in church practices.
P R O T E C T I N G Y O U R M I N I S T R Y — from Sexual Orientation Gender Identity Lawsuits