diff --git a/config.go b/config.go
index 3f86f1fb9..8bff916a2 100644
--- a/config.go
+++ b/config.go
@@ -293,6 +293,14 @@ type Config struct {
 				// coordinator for the group.
 				UserData []byte
 			}
+
+			// If true, consumer offsets will be automatically reset to configured Initial value
+			// if the fetched consumer offset is out of range of available offsets. Out of range
+			// can happen if the data has been deleted from the server, or during situations of
+			// under-replication where a replica does not have all the data yet. It can be
+			// dangerous to reset the offset automatically, particularly in the latter case. Defaults
+			// to true to maintain existing behavior.
+			ResetInvalidOffsets bool
 		}
 
 		Retry struct {
@@ -494,6 +502,7 @@ func NewConfig() *Config {
 	c.Consumer.Group.Rebalance.Timeout = 60 * time.Second
 	c.Consumer.Group.Rebalance.Retry.Max = 4
 	c.Consumer.Group.Rebalance.Retry.Backoff = 2 * time.Second
+	c.Consumer.Group.ResetInvalidOffsets = false
 
 	c.ClientID = defaultClientID
 	c.ChannelBufferSize = 256
diff --git a/consumer_group.go b/consumer_group.go
index b603d1705..5a8d3072c 100644
--- a/consumer_group.go
+++ b/consumer_group.go
@@ -883,7 +883,8 @@ type consumerGroupClaim struct {
 
 func newConsumerGroupClaim(sess *consumerGroupSession, topic string, partition int32, offset int64) (*consumerGroupClaim, error) {
 	pcm, err := sess.parent.consumer.ConsumePartition(topic, partition, offset)
-	if err == ErrOffsetOutOfRange {
+
+	if errors.Is(err, ErrOffsetOutOfRange) && sess.parent.config.Consumer.Group.ResetInvalidOffsets {
 		offset = sess.parent.config.Consumer.Offsets.Initial
 		pcm, err = sess.parent.consumer.ConsumePartition(topic, partition, offset)
 	}