The Ministry of Restoration

By Dr. Ron Pleune

One of the greatest challenges for churches today is to minister to the brothers and sisters who have stumbled in their walk with the Lord and have been caught up in sin. In The Ministry of Restoration, author Dr. Ron Pleune discusses whose responsibility it is to be concerned with the restoration process of those who have fallen into sin.

Based on the Word of God, The Ministry of Restoration explores what it means to be overtaken by sin and considers who is responsible for restoring the sinners back to their faith. It addresses techniques in counseling; offers suggestions on how to handle sin, forgiveness, bitterness, and shame; and provides guidance for taking the steps to move forward in life.

Using Scripture, personal reflection, and ecclesiastical examples, Pleune maintains it is the whole church communitys responsibility to reach out to those who have fallen away from God. The Ministry of Restoration teaches that all church members should be a part of Gods plan for healing: read with your eyes, review with your thoughts, reinforce with your heart, and restore with your actions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jan 11, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512701517

Dr. Ron Pleune

Dr. Ron Pleune earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in youth and family ministry and apologetics at Bethany Theological Seminary in Dothan, Alabama. Pleune has extensive experience in Christian ministry through teaching, pastoring, and evangelistic ministries and is also a certified behavior management specialist. He has been active in various teaching capacities while presently in secular employment as a professor at various institutions in Utah, where he currently lives.

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Copyright © 2016 Dr. Ron Pleune.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-0150-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-0152-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-0151-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015920161

WestBow Press rev. date: 01/06/2016

CONTENTS

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1 Who Is to Be Concerned?

Chapter 2 What Is the Situation?

Chapter 3 Who Is to Address the Issue?

Chapter 4 What Is the Approach?

Chapter 5 Sin and Blame

Chapter 6 Bitterness, Forgiveness, Future, and Shame

Chapter 7 Format and Evaluation

PREFACE

It is my prayer that this book will be an instrument of revival in evangelical churches and the brothers and sisters in them. The material will address the ministry of restoration, which is greatly misapplied or nonexistent in many Christian churches today.

Since the 1960s, I, along with many others, have observed as well as experienced how Christians have shunned fellow brothers and sisters who have fallen into what typically have been considered major sins. What I mean by major sins are alcoholism, pornography, jail time, GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) life, divorce, joining a cult … just to name a few.

Church pastors and parishioners refuse to engage in the ministry of restoration by using excuses such as, I don’t want to get involved in it, or I’ll let someone else handle it, or Let’s just ignore them and hope they leave the church. When we think about the subject of sin, we generally don’t think of gossip, disrespect, dabbling in questionable life styles, suggestive jokes and comments, revealing clothing, soft swearing and minor misappropriation of items as falling into the major sin category … yet they all fall into the category of sin and need restorative measures in their own right before they become the springboard of being overtaken in a sin that will affect themselves as well as others.

As we contemplate the matter of falling into sin, which could be a quick slippery slope or something that has taken place over time, all believers need to understand where they play a part in restoring a person back to credible ground whether it is through professional help, pastoral counseling, believer-to-believer counseling, or self-help counseling such as obtaining a book, various materials, or a study guide on scriptural truths that aid in the process of restoration from a setback of sin.

The truth of the matter is that the fallen one (if we can use that as a term but not strictly apply it to the major sin category) must not be abandoned whether it is a senior citizen, middle-aged person, early college and career person, teenager, or young child. We bellow out the words and music of Onward Christian Soldiers, and then we shoot our own wounded brothers and sisters in Christ because they got caught up in something that has led them down the path of sin.

The challenging question we should ask is, Who gave us the authority to sit on the sidelines and let Satan and his host drag Christian soldiers to the gulag of devastation? Do we as believers have the right to let this happen? And what about us—are we above reproach? I trust that as each person reads this book whether by himself, as a Sunday school lesson series, or as a group Bible study, he will meditate on Galatians 6:1 and make it a personal commitment to be a minister of restoration as laid out in the authority of the Scripture.

Read with your eyes, review with your thoughts, reinforce with your heart, and restore with your actions!

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I humbly acknowledge the inspiration that various pastors and parishioners have given me down through the years that I have drawn upon to write this book. In particular is Pastor Terry Long of Calvary Church of Salt Lake City, who has continually inspired those who have skinned their knee on the issues of life to get right with the Lord rather than give Satan the victory. For John Cowan, Assistant Pastor, that has encouraged me to write and confront pastors and laypeople to be involved with the restoration process of brothers and sisters in Christ, and for Robert Marshall, Teaching Pastor at Risen Life Church of Salt Lake City for sparking the inspiration in me to write about the Restoration of Believers which is so evident in his daily ministry.

Acknowledgment is also extended to my wife, Sally, for the many hours put into typing, discussion, and the challenge of various issues of life that affect brothers and sisters in Christ as well as our personal family relationships.

Acknowledgment is not complete without praising the Lord for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in putting observations and experiences into a format that I pray will be a springboard to the ministry of restoration as the days of trials and tribulations become more intense.

To God be the glory!

INTRODUCTION

Imagine an army going out to battle. The fighting becomes intense at times and some soldiers valiantly fight while others fall wounded … some are mortally wounded and lay still. Who is going to help the wounded and who will be the fortifiers of those who are so valiantly fighting?

The battle in Christian living is much the same. Sometimes life moves on pretty smoothly, yet there are other times that the fight intensifies and even becomes downright hot. Issues of daily life are hurling bullets and bombs of questioning biblical values, political correctness, and the social premise that everyone can be a rock star. Christians waver in their convictions and even challenge the validity of what would Jesus do as families face the pressures of a technological world in which the computer becomes a god to them.

Among all of this carnage there are some soul-searching questions. How is the evangelical church going to face the challenges of wavering convictions? Are our churches prepared to deal with the wounded who fall into sin by being overtaken in a sin such as alcohol, drugs, pornography, issues of divorce, family disagreements, church family infighting, gambling, following a cult, and the GLBT lifestyle? How should members of the local church respond? Are they afraid to interact? Where does the ministry of restoration fall in priority to evangelism, missions, and church planting? What is being done in the local church to get members involved in supporting their wounded comrades, when some of them don’t even get to know their next-door neighbors?

Time and time again, Christians have become fed up with issues, and they get involved in a sin that overtakes their hearts. They end up dropping out of the local church after receiving limited help from the pastor because everyone says, Oh well, it’s their problem or I don’t want to get involved.

Wait a minute. This is a family problem—the church family! We call ourselves brothers and sisters yet when one falls into sin we say, It’s the pastor’s job to help them. We need to rally around the fallen one with prayer, encouragement, friendship, fellowship, teaching, counseling, and congeniality to aid in the ministry of restoration without agreeing to the sin they have fallen into. The ministry of restoration is everyone’s responsibility to some extent and should be taught from the pulpit and the classroom on a frequent basis to remind us all that we’re in it together!

CHAPTER 1

WHO IS TO BE CONCERNED?

A TTEMPTS TO ANSWER the question of Who is to be concerned? come loaded with opinions, limited actions, finger-pointing, and excuses.