What should you do if a Christian commits a grave sin and has confessed it? How should their local church respond? Martin Bucer (1500s), in his classic work on pastoral care and church discipline, "On the True Care of Souls", addresses this and other situations with advice that is both Biblical and drawing on road-tested wisdom. Based on a text in Ezekiel, Bucer assigns believers to one of five categories. The third category is " hurt and wounded sheep " which Bucer describes in the following details " those who remain in the church and the communion of Christ, but fall into open and notorious sins and abuses , such as abandoning their confession of Christ, denying the truth of Christ, and in other ways blaspheming against God, his holy word and all the things of God; disobedience and sin against superiors; any harm done to their neighbours' property, person or honour by word or by deed; all immorality and intemperance." In other words, Christians w...