Does the Lutheran Church excommunicate members?

Does the Lutheran Church excommunicate members? Under what circumstances would this occur, and what is the process? What is the biblical basis for excommunication?

Thanks to The Lutheran for giving me this ‘fun’ topic to play with! Nobody likes excommunication because it’s so negative. If the church is about God’s love and forgiveness, how can it deliberately kick people out?

Excommunication, however, has a long history. Just as people can ‘commune’ in the church — and we welcome that — so they can also ‘ex’-commune. This is quite common, and mostly it is done voluntarily. Australians and New Zealanders excommunicate themselves by staying away from the church, holy communion, and all that. It’s a personal choice they make, and we all take it for granted.

The objections start when the church says, ‘No, you cannot commune here or be part of our congregation’. We don’t like that. Why, when and how would the church do this? Isn’t this the opposite of love?

The origins go back to Jesus. When he gave St Peter the keys of the kingdom he said, ‘Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven’ (Matt 16:19 and18:18). The offence required to bind sin must obviously be very serious, related to lack of repentance, damaging to faith and destructive of the community.

Years ago people didn’t have the freedoms we have today, and the church was much more central to life. Excommunication meant being cut off from family, friends and the community. The Lutheran reformers objected to this public abuse of church discipline but they kept the practice of excommunication inside the church. Excommunication did not mean that someone was kicked out of the church, but it did mean spending time apart for reflection and repentance. The aim was to forgive, but obviously the outcomes were uncertain and the practice was hugely risky.

These days the effects are even less certain. People can just choose to stay away from church or move to another one. While this hurts, it is less devastating than it once was. Their new community might know nothing of the previous excommunication.

Nevertheless the Lutheran Church does retain a process for excommunication at the congregational level. Thankfully it is very rarely used as it can create more problems than it is meant to solve, especially if used prematurely. The LCA has recognised our need to understand more. Recently all pastors and lay workers received Ambassadors of Reconciliation training to equip them better for situations of conflict and division by teaching and practising genuine forgiveness and loving restoration.

Response by Rev John Henderson, principal of Australian Lutheran College and vice-president of the LCA.

This question appeared in the RAQ (Rarely Asked Questions) column in the April 2011 edition of The Lutheran. While responses to RAQ questions are supplied by LCA leaders or theologians, they should be treated as personal opinions and not as official statements on behalf of the church.