The August 2024 issue of Tabletalk will consider the subjects of church membership, discipline, and apostasy. In our increasingly individualistic society, many professing Christians now regard church membership as optional. The increasing distrust of institutions compounds the problem. With church membership in decline, the neglect of church discipline has become all too common. Moreover, many professing Christians misunderstand and fear the church’s discipline because of abusive disciplinary practices that they or others have experienced. Questions also abound concerning apostasy, since most Christians know someone who was once a church member but has since walked away from the church. This issue of Tabletalk will consider the interrelated subjects of church membership, discipline, and apostasy, focusing particularly on common questions and objections related to these topics.
Contributors include Burk Parsons, Guy Prentiss Waters, Gabriel N.E. Fluhrer, John R. Muether, Donny Friederichsen, Aaron D. Messner, Caleb Cangelosi, Nick Batzig, Andrew M. Davis, Kara Dedert, Jonathan L. Master, R. Carlton Wynne, Thomas Brewer, Brian G. Najapfour, Aaron L. Garriott, Don Bailey, and Keith A. Mathison.