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The Matthew 18 Process - A three-step process
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Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault
between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the
mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he
shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear
the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. -Matt
18:15-17
God designed this process to quickly and quietly retain everyone in the
Salvation Process. It is designed to maintain love, forgiveness and
harmony in the Church of God. Members should not be easily offended and
look for opportunities to forgive. Alleged offenders should look for a
quick end to situation taking responsibly if they did commit an offense.
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| Step One - 95% of all instances |
| Offended |
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Alleged Offender |
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The offended party approaches offender as
soon as possible after the offense takes place with one single fault. |
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The alleged offender looks to end the
situation quickly, even to the point of taking the wrong. "I'm
sorry." |
| The offended tells no one of
this incident. |
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The offender tells no one of
this incident |
If the offender denies the offense or
abuses or rejects the offended, we go to step 2. |
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back to main text |
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| Step Two - 3-4% of all instances |
| Offended |
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Alleged Offender |
one or two witnesses |
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In this Step 2, the offended obtains one
or two witnesses to hear the matter. |
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The offender tells no one of this
incident or this process. |
The offended does not pick ministers or
close friends of either party. |
The offender tells no one of this
incident or process. |
The two witnesses are told nothing of the
process or who the offender is until the sit-down meeting to hear the
matter. |
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The duty of the witnesses is to
impartially hear both sides and declare their conclusion of the matter
and whether an offence took place. |
No one asked to be a witness in step 2 is
obligated to serve in this capacity. |
If the offender denies the offense or
abuses or rejects the offended and witnesses, we go to step 3. |
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back to main text |
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| Step 3 - 1-2% of all instances |
| Offended |
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Alleged Offender |
The Church |
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The process being unresolved in Steps 1
and 2 takes the matter goes to the church. |
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| The offender tells no one of
this incident or this process. |
Depending on the situation,
this may mean the offended goes to his local minister, the AC or to the
ICG Board of the church. |
The offender tells no one of
this incident or process. |
The minister (s) and/or
Board tell no one outside the incident of the matter or process. |
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The congregation should rarely, if ever, even know a
Matthew 18 process is going on. Everyone should understand this is
a POSITIVE process designed to maintain love, forgiveness and harmony in
the church. It is not an inquisition, investigation, or
prosecution. It is not designed to remove people from the church,
ministry, ordination, duty position or fellowship. See
main text for much more detail. |
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