EXTENDING MERCY, SPEAKING TRUTH, AND EXERCISING CHURCH DISCIPLINE Walking in the Light is a rare, field-tested roadmap for practicing church discipline that is both biblically faithful and deeply pastoral. Drawing on decades of prayer, Scripture, and congregational experience, Andy Fleming shows how mercy, truth, and loving discipline belong together in the life of God’s people. From cultivating genuine small-group fellowship that can lovingly call a brother or sister to repentance, to recognizing when specialized help for addictions or mental health is needed, he offers concrete, humane steps that aim at restoration, not punishment. The result is a vision of discipline that protects the church, honors God’s holiness, and seeks the healing of the sinner through relationships of trust, prayer, and Scripture. More than a “how-to,” this book forms the heart through biblical reflection. Readers will find a clear framework, reflective questions, and tested timelines for temporary limitations of fellowship, including lifelines of weekly contact and defined pathways back to full participation. With wisdom born of hard lessons and tearful restorations, Walking in the Light equips leaders and members alike to extend mercy, speak truth, and exercise discipline in a way that reflects the character of our loving God. “If I knew a church leadership had read this book and taken the time to reflect on and discuss all the questions as a group, my apprehensions about how they might apply church discipline would disappear.” – Gordon Ferguson “This book showed me why it was such a struggle for me to help a young disciple of Jesus repent of ongoing sin. It taught me how to make coming out into the light feel safe for them. Thanks to the sound teaching found here, a precious soul was restored, and I believe many more will be!” – A reader ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Andy (Andrew Clinton) Fleming is a minister, church planter, and teacher with more than four decades of ministry experience, including formative years serving and planting churches across the former Soviet Union in the 1990s. Those front-line years, marked by both hardship and remarkable growth, shaped his conviction that healthy congregations are built where mercy, truth, and discipline work together in loving community—convictions he brings to bear with pastoral warmth and careful biblical study. In the spring of last year, Andy earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from Abilene Christian University, further sharpening his biblical and practical approach to congregational life and healthy church building. Andy’s wife, Tammy, has been his most valuable ministry partner since 1986, serving alongside him as a counselor, mentor, and co-laborer in the gospel. Based in Kyiv, Ukraine, Andy writes and teaches with a global perspective, deep respect for Scripture, and a shepherd’s heart devoted to helping churches live “in the light.”
