Church Membership and Discipline

First have a proper membership system in place, then and only then should a church venture into discipline (or even consider excommunication). Without membership, why should a church "judge" prebelivers (who may have said the sinner's prayer without knowing what the demands of a Christian are)?

Source:
Those Who Must Give an Account

"Church discipline, like church membership, is a biblical concept and important to the health of a church. But church discipline cannot be properly carried out if a church does not have an official membership role...

A person cannot be put out of the church if he was never officially in the church. The authority given to the church is to admit members as well as to remove them if needed. If an unbeliever sins and refuses to repent, he is not excommunicated from the church because he was never a member. A believer who sins and refuses to repent, however, is to be removed from the church. Therefore, if it is biblical to remove someone from the church, it must also be the case that such unrepentant sinners were formal members. Consequently, churches that do not have a membership greatly limit the ability of the leaders to correct those in sin and protect their flock. In addition, there could also be possible legal problems if a church attempts to discipline someone who is not a member of the church and has therefore not formally committed to live by the standards of the gospel."