The action of the church in dealing with erring members. After every effort to reclaim an erring member has failed, and discipline becomes necessary to preserve the reputation of the church, two procedures are open: a vote of censure or a vote to disfellowship (to drop from membership). A vote of censure is taken when the offense is considered serious enough to warrant the disapproval of the church but not grievous enough to warrant loss of membership. It is intended to impress the member with the need of amending his or her life and to grant a period of time to do so. This action may be taken at any duly called meeting of the church, and the offending member may be present. A member is placed under censure for a stated period of time, during which he or she cannot hold any church office, vote on church affairs, or have public part in any of the exercises of the church, such as teaching a Sabbath school class. He or she may not transfer membership to another church while under censure. If at the end of the period of censure the member gives evidence of satisfactory conduct, he or she will be considered in good standing; if not, his or her case must be reconsidered.
Among the causes for disfellowshipping are denial of faith in the fundamentals of the gospel and in the cardinal doctrines of the church; fraud or willful misrepresentation in business; disorderly conduct that brings reproach on the church; persistent refusal to recognize properly constituted church authority; the use, manufacture, or sale of alcoholic beverages; the use of tobacco or addiction to narcotic drugs; open violation of the law of God, such as worship of idols, murder, adultery, fornication, stealing, profanity, Sabbathbreaking, willful falsehood, and remarriage of divorced persons except the innocent party in a divorce for adultery.
No minister, church, or conference has the right to set up tests of fellowship other than those agreed upon by the entire church. Action to disfellowship may be taken only at a duly called meeting of the church and by majority vote. The church board cannot disfellowship, and the member has the right to be heard in his or her own defense. Members cannot be dropped for nonattendance at church services nor for failure to render financial support to the church.
The members are urged to manifest friendship and love toward a disfellowshipped member and endeavor to win that individual back. He or she may be reinstated upon confession, evidence of repentance and amendment of life, and after rebaptism.
The one who has been disfellowshipped has a right of appeal to the committee of the conference in which the church is located. If the conference feels that injustice has been done, it may recommend reinstatement. If the church declines to receive him or her, the conference may then recommend him or her to membership in some other church.
The disfellowshipping of members seems to have been practiced from the time churches were organized. In the Review and Herald of Nov. 25, 1851, James White reported that the brethren in Washington, New Hampshire, had withdrawn fellowship from one in doctrinal error (2:52). J. H. Waggoner in 1853 made an official statement in the Review and Herald concerning an action taken by the church at Alden, Illinois, withdrawing fellowship from a certain W. A. Raymond for an unchristian course taken, and for accusing the church of injustice. This was written in semilegal terms, and was ordered by, and in behalf of, the Alden church (4:184, Dec. 13, 1853).
Later W. H. Littlejohn stated that there is no such thing as “dropping names” in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. There are three methods only by which a name is removed from the church list: by death, by letter of transfer, or by “withdrawing the hand of fellowship” ( ibid. 62:427, July 7, 1885).