There are definitely some things which we DO NOT need to restore which the early church practiced. I am standing firm on this, and you should as well. Now before you get upset, just think about it. What did some in the early church do, which we should not? Well, here is an article which Dad wrote some years ago, and I found it while going through his papers. I am not sure he published it, but I will… It needs to be read…
The article is entitled, “BLACK BALLING”

The idea of assassinating a brother (in Christ) by spurious charges is not new. Simply asking an unanswered question like, “Where was OUR GOOD BROTHER on the night of August 6th,” in order to raise a doubt in the minds of others is an old but still workable trick. Assassination by association is back in style. It is “murder” by grouping. Example: “I was at the zoo recently and saw a monkey, a baboon and brother so and so!” Gossip can often be nothing more than “Guess who I saw sitting at the same table… and they were talking and laughing and seemed to be having lots of fun together.”
The idea of assassinating a brother (in Christ) by spurious charges is not new. Simply asking an unanswered question like, “Where was OUR GOOD BROTHER on the night of August 6th,” in order to raise a doubt in the minds of others is an old but still workable trick. Assassination by association is back in style. It is “murder” by grouping. Example: “I was at the zoo recently and saw a monkey, a baboon and brother so and so!” Gossip can often be nothing more than “Guess who I saw sitting at the same table… and they were talking and laughing and seemed to be having lots of fun together.”
The idea of assassinating a brother (in Christ) by spurious charges is not new. Simply asking an unanswered question like, “Where was OUR GOOD BROTHER on the night of August 6th,” in order to raise a doubt in the minds of others is an old but still workable trick. Assassination by association is back in style. It is “murder” by grouping. Example: “I was at the zoo recently and saw a monkey, a baboon and brother so and so!” Gossip can often be nothing more than “Guess who I saw sitting at the same table… and they were talking and laughing and seemed to be having lots of fun together.”

1. Have I contacted the person or persons about whom I am writing? Have I discussed with them the point of conflict, allowing them to give any detail of conscience or circumstance that may otherwise be unknown? This would allow me the ability to be fair and responsible in my own attitudes.

2. Did I offer them space in my bulletin or periodical to allow them an adequate reply in the same edition?

3. This procedure would allow more room in your journal or publication for positive truths that encourage brethren and build up the church.

4. Following this checklist (might) help do away with much of the labeling and black-listing of brethren/ This would in turn, give us all more “elbow-room” to study truth without fear of the “light” that truth brings. This would produce the climate needed for more open discussion (without pride or malice) of issues that need “ventilating.”

5. Above all, this kind of consideration would would help restore (to some degree) the FIRST (and greatest) commandment of loving God (His Word and truth) and of loving each other (as we love our self) more (Matthew 22:37-40).

Some call it slander, others say libel, or misrepresentation, or “murder.” “He who steals my purse steals trash, but he who robs me of my good name, steals that which enriches him not, but makes me poor indeed” (Shakespeare). However you write it, or whatever you call it, if it results in “consuming each other,” it’s just a matter of time before ”
“We’ll all be made somebody-Else’s dinner!!”

Jack Exum