Missionary Dating

     II Corinthians 6:14-16a--Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?  And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God.

     For those of you that may not be familiar with the term, missionary dating is when a believer chooses to date a non-believer, with the hope that they (the believer) will win over the non-believer by their actions.  In my experience, the end result has never been good.  In some cases the believer gets deeply hurt because they invested so much and got nothing in return.  In other cases the believer stops coming to church, because they are no longer interested in the things of God.  Scripture is clear; believers are to have no fellowship or communion with an unbeliever. (To avoid any confusion, fellowship and communion are not the same as association.  Check out I Corinthians 5:9-11) 

     My concern is that the concept of missionary dating has entered the church. The goal is correct, save the lost, but the means is not.  I fear that many churches today are attempting to draw worldly people into church and into Christ by using worldly means.  We attempt to get the unreachable into the door of the church through some worldly facet, in hope that through our neat activities they will desire to have fellowship with us and more importantly, with Christ.  The problem, when we use worldly means to entice the world, we must continue to use worldly means to keep them there.  

     Let me ask you a few questions.  What methods are you using to draw people to your church and to Christ?  Are they similar to the ones used by Christ and the apostles?  Remember what Ephesians 2:20-22 says, “having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”  Whenever we consider an approach to grow Christ’s church we must compare it to the methods Christ, the apostles and prophets used.  We do not need some new and improved, study-proven plan to draw in unbelievers, Christ already gave us one.  It is found in Luke 24:47.  The message we are to preach is a very basic one: repentance and remission of sins.  You won’t draw many fleshly oriented people with it, but those that realize their need for a Savior and the fruits that He provides, will come. 

     I challenge each church to check the message they are preaching and methods they are using to draw in people.  Would you be willing to try one test to see where you are spiritually?  As a church, take away every extra activity you do for 6 months, no more Friday night game night, or Sunday morning children’s church; no more band or Wednesday night youth group, and then look around and see who is left in your congregation.  All that would remain is simple worship, with a piano or guitar or maybe no instruments, and preaching that centers on repentance and remission of sins.  What would your church look like in 6 months?  I fear that most churches in the U.S. would dwindle away, because our foundation is not on the Rock, but on sinking sand.

     May God encourage you to seek revival within yourself and then within your church.