When Sin Breaks the Body: How Should We Respond?

Sin is not just a private struggle. It damages relationships, wounds communities, and dishonours God. Yet many ecclesias find themselves uncertain, even ineffective, in how to deal with sin and with sinners in their midst.

Do we look away and hope things improve?

Do we act quickly and decisively with disfellowship?

Is there space for something more thoughtful, more faithful, more restorative?

These are the questions at the heart of a series of short talks entitled "Healing the Body: Addressing Sin in Christ’s Ecclesia".

Why This Matters

Too often, ecclesias either:

• Avoid confrontation altogether — sweeping sin under the carpet, leaving victims unprotected and sinners unchallenged.

• Rely only on disfellowship — cutting people off without walking with them toward genuine repentance and change.

But Scripture calls us to something deeper. To confront sin truthfully. To protect the vulnerable. To call sinners to repentance with both courage and compassion. And then to discern the fruit of transformation — to ask:

• Has there been genuine reformation of heart and life?

• Are we seeing the visible fruit of repentance?

• How can we as a community walk with the broken toward healing, without excusing or enabling sin?

The Challenge Before Us

Disfellowship is sometimes necessary, but it is never the only tool. Our calling is to lead sinners toward repentance and transformation in Christ, and to do so genuinely and respectfully. That requires patience, accountability, humility, and a community committed to both truth and grace.

Listen to the talks (https://christadelphianvideo.org/studyvideo/video-series-healing-the-body-6-studies-andrew-weller/) and explore how we can move beyond either silence or severance, toward the courageous, compassionate work of healing the body of Christ.