The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Three marks of a true church

You got it, The Belgic Confession, and of course the one I left off my original list was #3, church discipline. How many churches today place a high priority on the discipline of it's members? I think it safe to say, not many.
From the mid 1700's to the mid 1800's Baptist churches across America excluded between 1 and 2 percent of their membership every year. In addition, between 3 and 4 percent of their members were disciplined each year but were returned to the church fellowship after repentance was witnessed.
What has happened to church purity over the years? Church historian Greg Wills has said, " No theologians argued that discipline was unsound in principle or practice...It simply faded away, as if we grew weary of holding one another accountable."
The amazing thing about the time frame mentioned above is that while churches actively practiced discipline their membership grew at twice the population rate.