When a person is disfellowshipped or is deemed to have disassociated, an announcement is made at the next
midweek meeting that the named individual "is no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses". Congregation members are not informed whether a person is being shunned due to "disfellowshipping" or "disassociation", or on what grounds. Shunning starts immediately after the announcement is made.
[104][105] A notification form is sent to the local branch office and records of the disfellowshipping are saved in the congregational records. Both are kept until at least five years after reinstatement.
[106][107]
Failure to adhere to the directions on shunning is itself considered a serious offense. Members who continue to speak to or associate with a disfellowshipped or disassociated person are said to be sharing in their "wicked works"
[108] and may themselves be disfellowshipped.
[109] Exceptions are made in some cases, such as business relations and immediate family household situations.
[94] If a disfellowshipped person is living in the same home with other baptized family members, religious matters are not discussed, with the exception of minors, for whose training parents are still responsible.
[110][111] Disfellowshipped family members outside the home are shunned.
[93] Disfellowshipped individuals can continue attending public meetings held at the Kingdom Hall, though they are shunned by the congregation.
[112]
