Our church in Eldoret recently, for the first time in its life had to go through the sad process of putting out a member whose life was consistently and repeatedly inconsistent with the profession of faith in a holy God. There had to be many meetings before we made the painful decision that the one whom we had called "brother" did not have credible evidence of repentance in his life.
This link on the return of a prodigal after 14 years is very encouraging: http://timmybrister.com/2009/06/28/where-extraordinary-grace-and-celestial-joy-meet/
When I lived in Oxford the church I was in put out two members, and two later returned - one of them about 2 years later, the other a little sooner. It greatly increased my confidence that the painful way laid down in the Bible is the best way, difficult though church discipline is in the present "thou shalt not offend anyone" culture of the West.
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