Suspension (Church Discipline)

Definition and Meaning

Suspension (Korean jeongjik, 停職) means "stopping the duties of an office" and is one of the censures (penalties imposed for wrongdoing) administered in church discipline. A suspended officer keeps the title of the office but may not carry out the functions that belong to it. For example, a suspended pastor may not preach or administer the sacraments, and a suspended elder may not take part in the session. Suspension is lighter than deposition (myeonjik, 免職), which strips the person of the office itself, and heavier than admonition (gyeonchaek, 譴責), which consists of a rebuke alone. It is distinct from suspension from the Lord's Supper, which bars a person from Communion rather than from the duties of office, although the two censures are sometimes imposed together. In Korean, jeongjik (停職) should not be confused with the homophone jeongjik (正直), meaning "honesty" or "uprightness."

Biblical and Historical Background

Matthew 18:15-17, which sets out the procedure for correcting an erring brother, and 1 Corinthians 5 are commonly cited as the basis for church discipline. With respect to the discipline of officers, a frequently cited passage is 1 Timothy 5:19-20, which directs that an accusation against an elder be received only before two or three witnesses and that those who sin be rebuked.

After the Reformation, the church in Geneva, where John Calvin ministered, exercised discipline through a governing body composed of pastors and elders. Chapter 30 of the Westminster Confession of Faith lists admonition, suspension from the sacrament of the Lord's Supper for a season, and excommunication as the censures of the church. Censures that suspend an officer from the duties of office subsequently became established in the disciplinary rules of Presbyterian and various other denominations.

Practice in the Korean Church

In the Korean church, suspension is carried out according to each denomination's church constitution and rules of discipline. The body that imposes the censure and the procedure followed vary with the denomination's form of church government.

• Presbyterian churches: Generally, pastors are tried and censured by the presbytery, while elders, deacons, and other lay officers are tried and censured by the session, with the right of appeal to a higher judicatory. Suspension is listed among the censures alongside admonition, deposition, suspension from the Lord's Supper, removal from the membership roll, and excommunication. The specific types and names of censures, however, differ somewhat among denominations such as the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap) and the General Assembly of Presbyterian Church in Korea (Hapdong).
• Methodist churches: The Korean Methodist Church imposes censures, including suspension, on clergy and members according to the judicial procedures set forth in its Doctrines and Discipline.
• Churches with congregational polity: In denominations that emphasize the autonomy of the local church, such as Baptist churches, decisions of the local congregational meeting carry greater weight than trials by higher judicatories.

When a senior pastor is suspended, the presbytery may in some cases appoint an interim moderator. When the period of suspension ends or the officer's repentance is recognized, the officer returns to duty through a procedure of release from censure (haebeol, 解罰). Suspensions also sometimes become a point of contention in church disputes. Civil courts are generally understood to have refrained from ruling on internal church discipline as such.