Previous | Next 

A story of restoration

Barbara Armstrong for Allison Bennett

On February 23, 1999 a joyful membership meeting was held in Richmond Bethel MB Church in Richmond, B.C. Twenty-nine-year-old Allison Bennett stood and read these words from Hebrews 12:11: “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness” (NAS). A little less than 10 years previously, the membership of this same church had voted to excommunicate Allison.

Allison had grown up attending Richmond Bethel Church with her parents, Jim and Barbara Armstrong, and two siblings, going to Sunday school, joining Pioneer Girls’ Club and youth group, and participating actively in many areas. At age 17, she chose to be baptized and become a member of the fellowship.

A mere two years later, Allison had drifted far away from her commitment to Christ, her church and her family. She had chosen to distance herself, and moved in with her boyfriend. She ceased all fellowship with the church, and had little contact with her family.

Allison’s parents were devastated and, after a period of time, welcomed spiritual counsel from their pastors and church elders. Through a series of meetings over many months involving Allison’s parents, the church elders, the pastors and Allison herself, it was agreed by all that she was not willing to make any changes in her life. The elders and pastors made the sad and painful decision to excommunicate her.

That was not all. Brad Julihn, fairly new to his position as senior pastor, found himself in the unenviable position of giving spiritual leadership in this situation. He studied Scripture passages dealing with the church discipline of a person who claims to be a follower of Christ but continues in willful disobedience. Based on this study, Pastor Brad concluded that a two-step process was necessary:

Excommunication. A specific act of binding and loosing.

In the second step, the church gathers in the name and power of the Lord Jesus, removes the protection of the Holy Spirit and the angels of God from that person, and hands that person over to Satan so that he or she may experience more fully the consequences of the master he or she has chosen to serve (1 Corinthians 5; Matthew 18; 1 Timothy 1:20).

The implementation of this second step was new to Allison’s parents and many church members, so Pastor Brad took time to teach and field questions on this Scriptural principle. The church elders then proposed a resolution that this two-step process be applied to Allison. The resolution was ratified by a majority of members at a meeting on June 13, 1989.

Pastor Brad wrote a letter to Allison outlining the two-step disciplinary process, assuring her that whenever she was ready to turn back to Christ, His arms, as well as the doors and arms of the church, were open wide.

Many years passed. Prayers were continually offered up for Allison by her family and various church members. When she married her boyfriend, the prayers included her husband.

There was no single moment at which a breakthrough could be declared. Rather, God’s hand moved slowly across the lives of Allison, her husband and her family. There were some extremely difficult times; there were some moments of joy. It was an agonizingly slow process. Through it all was the confident faith of her family and others that God’s grace, faithfulness and sovereign ability could work in Allison’s life and bring her back into fellowship with Him and His church.

February 23, 1999 was the culmination of 10 years of prayer. Present at the restoration service were Allison, Pastor Brad, Allison’s parents and many of the same people who had attended that sad meeting 10 years previously. There were no words to adequately express the profound joy and thankfulness experienced that night.

Pastor Brad opened the meeting with prayer, reflection and teaching from God’s Word, explaining for those who had not been present at the previous meeting the history, the Scriptural principles and the reasoning behind the actions taken against Allison.

Following this, Allison was invited to give her testimony to the members. She spoke as follows:

I want to thank you for inviting me here tonight. It’s been a long time getting here. I wanted to share with you some of the ways that God’s been working in my life. When I left Bethel 11 years ago, I was angry, I was very confused, and I was extremely self-centred. I didn’t know what God wanted in my life, and I really didn’t care because I had decided that He wasn’t interested in me anyway. My mom and I this morning were talking about passages on discipline. Hebrews 12:11 says, “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

I’m sure that many of the members here felt a lot of sorrow at the need for disciplining me. When I received the letter informing me of the discipline, I was angry, and I was sorrowful, probably more angry. I didn’t understand why the church felt that they had any right to discipline me. I had made the decision to walk away already. I felt that the church didn’t have any authority over me anymore because I didn’t want God to have any authority over me anymore.

I do, however, understand it now. Since that time, God has been faithfully placing people in my life to challenge me, to make me think – my parents, my grandparents and some people that I didn’t really expect.

He knew exactly what I was feeling. He knew what I needed to hear – that only He could provide the solutions to my problems. I think that in the back of my mind I always knew I would return to God, but I was afraid to face Him with who I had become. I also wasn’t ready to give up many of the things in my life that I knew displeased Him. It was actually Robbie, my husband, who suggested that we begin attending church. He knew my background, and he had been there when I received the letter. I guess I agreed because we had started having a family and I wanted my kids to learn about Jesus but I certainly didn’t feel qualified to teach them.

We looked into a few churches over a two-year period, but we couldn’t find anywhere that we felt comfortable. Finally, about a-year-and-a-half ago, we moved into Ladner, B.C. and started attending South Delta Baptist Church.

Around that time, I discovered that Robbie had received Christ into his life while listening to a radio program in the car a couple of years before. I hadn’t known that at the time; he had chosen to keep that to himself. I knew he was interested, but I didn’t realize that he had actually taken that step.

At that point, I realized that I needed to get serious about getting myself right with God. If Robbie could take that step, I supposed I should. I spent some time talking with God. Eventually I asked for His forgiveness, and I asked Him to begin working in me to change me into the person that He wants me to be. I discovered that I’m not very capable of changing anything in my life unless I ask Him for help. I told Him that I wanted Him to be in control of my life. I thank God often that He loves me and that He wants to be involved in my life and to be in control of it.

I also wanted to thank you as a church for being faithful to God and to His Word in disciplining me. I can’t say what would have happened if you hadn’t acted as you did, but I can ask you to look at my life now and see what has resulted. I believe that your decision to discipline me as a member of this church was biblical and necessary, both for the wholeness of this church and also for my future reconciliation with God.

I’m also very thankful to my parents, who were supportive of the discipline. Being a parent now myself, I know how much they love me, and I know how much it must have hurt them to follow God’s commands concerning me. I love them for their commitment to God and to me and to my welfare. I’m absolutely certain that’s what they had at heart at the time.

I’m still struggling every day to submit my whole life to God consistently. I know I’m not there yet, but my mother reminded me this morning that no one’s there yet and that we won’t be until we join our Lord in heaven. I’m just going to continue trusting God to work in my life and to teach me to be His servant.

I want to thank you very much for what you did then, and for what you’re doing now. This means a lot to me.

Following this testimony, it was resolved to restore Allison to fellowship at Richmond Bethel Church and then to commend her to fellowship at the church she now regularly attends with her husband and three children. The resolution was ratified unanimously by the membership.

A prayer of restoration and God’s blessing was offered by Pastor Brad, with many members laying hands on Allison: “Tonight, Lord, we are gathered here in the name of the Lord Jesus. Lord, in Your mighty name, we are asking You to bind the powers of darkness, to bind the evil one from having any influence in Allison’s life. Right now, we, as the church of Jesus Christ, address ourselves to the powers of darkness and in the authority and the name and power of the Lord Jesus, we command you that you have no authority over Allison. . . . Lord, we pray Your blessing and protection over Allison. We ask You to surround her with Your holy angels. . . . We commend her to You. . . . Amen.”

Robbie was baptized at Easter, 1999. He and Allison are now members of South Delta Baptist Church.

Previous | Next 

Last modified May 4, 2000.

© 2000 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
Masthead and usage information.