Walking Together
A Congregational Reflection on Biblical Church Discipline
Foreword by James Leo Garrett Jr.
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
Walking Together: A Congregational Reflection on Biblical Church Discipline is a study of the biblical concept of church discipline. It seeks to show that church discipline, rightly understood, is a ministry of mercy and grace that will bless churches that return to it. Walking Together reveals that church discipline was a ministry that was very important to earlier believers, and that the modern church has abandoned it to her own detriment. It is a clarion call for individuals and churches to come back to this vital but long-neglected aspect of congregational and personal life. By doing so, churches can be healed and interpersonal relationships can be restored.
Wyman Richardson is the pastor of Central Baptist Church in North Little Rock, Arkansas. He is the author of Walking Together: A Congregational Reflection on Biblical Church Discipline (Wipf & Stock) and On Earth As It Is In Heaven: Reclaiming Regenerate Church Membership (Founders Press). He is the editor of the eight volume The Collected Writings of James Leo Garrett Jr., 1950-2015 (Resource). He has published articles in Leadership, the Southwestern Journal of Theology, the 9Marks Journal, Founders Journal, and The Chesterton Review. He and his wife, Roni Richardson, have one daughter, Hannah.
"Wyman Richardson has called us to examine the Bible-based standard of congregational ethics. Why? Because we live in a very permissive day, and what often gets deemed as God's requirement winds up as little more than a mild hint that asks no real requirements of our members. It is as if we say, 'Sin if you must, we'll try our best to look the other way.' Richardson believes that the New Testament contains a call to congregational holiness. It is to this ancient, higher calling that his book is committed. If its words seem over stern to you, read it yet again. Read it until you come to believe in this great, evident truth: God does care how his children behave, for their behavior lies at the heart of His hope of bringing the world unto himself."
Calvin Miller, author of 'Preaching' and 'Oh Shepherd Where Art Thou?'
"Wyman Richardson has written a concise, thorough and altogether biblical guidebook for congregations who want to take seriously the Scriptural pattern for local church discipline. This is not a book of theory, but a practical manual tested on the anvil of pastoral and congregational experience. I commend this important study to God's people everywhere."
Timothy George, Dean of the Beeson Divinity School of Samford University and an Executive Editor of 'Christianity Today'
"Walking Together: A Congregational Reflection on Biblical Church Discipline is a superb analysis of a missing jewel in the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. The book is a beautiful blend of the biblical, theological, historical and practical. It is excellently written, and any minister or church will be well served by this work in recapturing this vital and missing element in the life of the church."
Daniel L. Akin, President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
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