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Saturday, October 29, 2005

Church - meat market or wasteland?

Do you know anyone who met their significant other at church? Did YOU meet your significant other at church? Now, I know lots and lots of Christians. Simply a ton of them. And to be honest with you, I can only think of a precious few folks who met their boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife in the Lord's house. Why is this? Although my wonderful pastor, Mike Woods, has expressed that while meeting a mate at church should not be your purpose for going - he has said that it's the kind of place you should be meeting people.
My question is why aren't we dating? Our non-Christian counterparts aren't shy about doing that. In fact I get asked out quite often by men, but know that I probably shouldn't be going out with them. It's so easy to fall in love - colorblind of beliefs. Awhile back I read a column about dating as a believer. I did take this to heart... "If you don't want to marry a non-christian - don't date one." That seems so simple, and I wish it were that easy. Once upon a time I knew a really great Godly girl. She appeared to be really solid in her faith: helped lead the student ministry, sang with the worship team, went to church, abstained from drinking. I soon learned that she was in a serious relationship with a guy who wasn't saved. When I'd asked her about it she had replied, "He's not a Christian yet, but I'm hoping that will change." More disturbing was that she told me they were sleeping together - and saw no conflict with her relationship with the Lord. She thought that since she found her "future husband" that they could now have sex. They were not married, or even engaged at this point. This situation really shook me up. Did most fellow Christians feel that way? I was also confused in her pick - this girl deserved someone who was on the same page as she was.
One way we can combat the dying institution of marriage is by setting good examples to follow. We all know the Bible verse that requires us to not be unequally yoked. God makes that very clear. Yet so many marriages are off balance. My own parents were an example of that. My mother was saved soon after she married my father, and their relationship ended in divorce years and years later. While I feel both parents love me, I saw such a difference in the two of them that I wasn't even convinced of their marriage. I felt different at church when just my mom and I showed up. Later, I discovered that many of my peers in Sunday School class thought my dad was dead! Even now, after 23 years, the fact that my father is a non-Christian - STILL affects me negatively. I love my father, but realize that he just can't be a part of my spiritual development - something that all children need.
A problem I do have with churches today is that they have countless ministries for married couples and families, but zero guidance as to how to get there. There are also many opportunities for older divorced/widowed Christians, but not never-been-married believers. Seriously, more people need to be fostering and developing relationships within their congregations. Especially with larger churches, I sense the weakening of community. Single young men and women need mentors that we're just not getting. God has laid it on my heart to pray for a mature Christian woman to take me under her wing. Heck, I'd also like some friends here that I can share things with. Sometimes I feel like I just can't find even one person to be real with. I'm outgoing, friendly, approachable and have the hardest time even finding a lunch companion.
Colleges appear to be fulfilling the role that the church USED to play in the lives of young people. Instead of making lifelong friends, relationships, and marriages within the church body - it is happening on college campuses. A vast majority of my friends from small private Christian college are now married - to other friends from the same school. It's no surprise, because campuses foster easy, almost ready-made connections. There are some problems with this new trend. Unlike a church, the cross section of the college population is vastly unrealistic of the "real world." Unfortunately, there's no other place where you'd find thousands of people with an age difference of at most, five or six years. Secondly, college is only four years. For alums like myself, we missed that "marriage boat."
Churches need to do a few things in order to play catch up:
1) Proper care and feeding of younger singles (and realize that folks are getting married later in life)
2) Directly address the topic of sex, and the role it is supposed to play in our lives
3) Break down the barriers felt by singles of the "family" cliques
4) Encourage mentoring relationships
Yes, I realize that like humans, churches will also have flaws. But I do think the lack of attention to singles is a major issue. Any thoughts?

2 Comments:

  • At 9:50 AM, October 30, 2005, Blogger Marianne said…

    Good post, Jen. I really agree with what you're saying. I was thinking of the "problem" of singles in the church and ways to change the mentality. I think the repsonsibility falls on singles as well as the families and leadership. You see, the church has trouble knowing what to 'do" with the singles, who are often sporadic in attendence and who don't fit into the neat social groups already assigned. Singles, on the other hand, approach church as an ego-centric smorgasboard: what can this church do for ME, what can I get out of it, who can I meet here who will enrich my life and feed into ME.

    Sometimes I want to tear my hair out and scream, "It isn't about YOU!" Jesus didn't say, "If you love me, belly up to the trough and get fed." NO, he said, 'If you love me, FEED MY SHEEP." That means getting dirty in the REAL, day-to-day ministry of the Church--ministry to the world and to the body of believers. This means volunteering to make cookies, man the nursery, sweep floors on church clean-up day, visit the sick, pray for the hurt, and maybe, just maybe, after doing that for a while, you'll realize that you're a lot more satisfied in your church life than before.

    On the subject of meeting "significant others" at church, you're right....I don't know anyone who met their husband/wife AT church. Maybe that's how it happened for someone I know and I just haven't heard the story.
    Gee, I hope I didn't miss the "marriage boat." I guess I better start signing up for GCC alumni events in my metropolitan area!

     
  • At 10:21 PM, October 30, 2005, Blogger Jennifer said…

    I hope I didn't miss the boat either! Sure, I didn't really have marriage on the brain as a student. Maybe I should have? But that would have entailed subscribing to Modern Bride and picking out cute bridemaid dresses with my hallmates.

     

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