My heart is hurting for people who have been deeply hurt by a church in my area. As a leader in a church I know that it is not hard to offend someone. As someone who goes to a church I know that it is not hard to be offended.
But the stories that I am hearing lately are too much. Church discipline is intended to ultimately be redemptive, to help people get closer to Jesus. It’s not intended to show your power or authority over your followers.
Pastors can you please take a moment to pray for the people in your area who are hurting because of church leadership. It’s not fair to those people that their image of Jesus is tarnished because of human agents.
The truth is that we are all incredibly broken people. The grace of Jesus is the only thing that helps us get our lives back together. Can we talk more about that? Can we humbly recognize our need for Jesus?
Leaders, let’s get out of the way of people who are trying to find Jesus. We are not meant to be gatekeepers of faith. We are guides. The only reason that we can guide anyone in their faith journey is because some one guided us. That person was a broken human too.
Let’s be honest.
Let’s be humble.
Let’s celebrate Jesus’ transforming love and grace.
Let’s help people walk away from sin and towards the grace that we find in the Cross of Christ.
I think that’s what people are looking for when they come to church for the first time.
Love.
Hope.
Healing.
Forgiveness.
Compassion.
Community.
We should be the best at creating environments like this because we have received all of this from Jesus in the first place.
JasonDeuman.com 
Jason, you’d actually be amazed by the stories Matt and I have heard as close friends of former elders of Mars Hill. The blogosphere’s focus on the church discipline fiasco recently is such a mild symptom of what is going on behind closed doors there. I urge you to pray, as it seems God may be moving to bring these things to light. Meanwhile, you might be interested to read Frank Viola’s “Pagan Christianity,” as well as John Eldredge’s recent “Beautiful Outlaw,” as both have been tremendously helpful to us in removing the layers of spin on Jesus and Christian fellowship that have been put on them by church culture in search of an authentic expression of our faith. Thanks for speaking up and offering your response to this issue here.