Form 31

You, __________________________, have been convicted of the sin of __________________________, and have been found to be deserving of the penalty of deposition from your office in the Church of Christ. Now, therefore, in His Name, this Court of His House, deposes you from the office of _____________________ (Teaching Elder, Ruling Elder, Deacon), and declares your relationship to the congregation in this capacity to be dissolved. You are forbidden to exercise any of the powers or duties of that office anywhere in the Church of Christ [and you are excluded from the privileges of Church membership, including participation in the sacraments] until penitence and new obedience on your part have shown you worthy of the exercise of those privileges, and until this Court restores your ordination by prayer and laying on of hands making you then eligible for re-election to an office.

(Note––Deposition from office does not always require exclusion from church membership. See Book of Discipline, section I, chap. 4, par. 1d.)