I can understand that kind of dislike of the term, but I am taking it directly from the OPC's Book of Discipline, which bases the censure on Scripture. Here's what excommunication actually means: "Excommunication is the most severe form of censure and is resorted to only in cases of offenses aggravated by persistent impenitence. It consists in a solemn declaration by an ecclesiastical judicatory that the offender is no longer considered a member of the body of Christ." So, yes, there is an element of declaring that someone is not saved. Yet, it is not on the basis of the church saying so, but on the basis of the person's persistent unrepentance. By their actions they have shown themselves to have no fruit in keeping with repentance, and so the church no longer considers them a member of the body of Christ. This is based on a few passages from Scripture: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." — Matthew 18:15-18 "It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people⁠— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler⁠—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. 'Purge the evil person from among you.'” — 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 "As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned." — Titus 3:10-11 Now let's talk about the actual effects of excommunication, as least as it is practiced in the OPC and similar denominations. It is NOT shunning. That is, we do not tell the person they are no longer welcome at church. They just aren't permitted to participate in the Lord's Supper. We actually WANT them to continue to come and hear the gospel, repent, and be restored. However, in our interactions with them, we are going to consider them to be an unbeliever until they are restored. Excommunication is also not the only level of censure, nor is it the first level that the church will typically jump to. First there is admonition, which is "tenderly and solemnly confronting the offender with his sin, warning him of his danger, and exhorting him to repentance and to greater fidelity to the Lord Jesus Christ." If he remains unrepentant it may proceed to rebuke, which is "setting forth the serious character of the offense, reproving the offender, and exhorting him to repentance and to more perfect fidelity to the Lord Jesus Christ." In other words, a more formal and serious form of admonition, and all the while the elders will be working with him to try to bring him to repentance. If he still refuses to repent, then the church may hold a trial and likely proceed to suspension from the privileges of membership, which means they aren't permitted to participate in the Lord's Supper, and it is used as a means of saying, "By your unrepentance it is not clear to us whether you are a Christian. Therefore, for your own safety, you should not participate in the Lord's Supper until we have seen evidence of a repentant heart." Only if a person continues in persistent and obstinent unrepentance does the church move to excommunication. In the 5 years I have been an elder, it has happened once, and by God's grace the man eventually repented and was restored. The term "disfellowship" seems to have more of a connotation of "you're not welcome here." More like shunning. But that's just my impression from the term. I don't know how your church practices it.