Unbelievers in the Service ...

[amishrockstar]

What should our attitude be toward "known" unbelievers continuing to worship in the service? When I say "known," I'm talking about people who will tell you that they don't claim to be Christian, yet they continue to come to church... I suppose the "knee-jerk" reaction is "well, what about the wheat and the tares?" but that also brings up another question; are we to bring in unbelievers in order to 'evangelize' them (like a Billy Graham Crusade) or what?
I'm just struggling with this issue (though there's more to it) and would like some godly counsel as to what MY attitude needs to be.

Thanks,
Matthew

 

[amishrockstar]

joshua,
Thanks for your response...
My 'grief' comes because of someone who is close to me (who I thought was a professing Christian, though after a series of recent events I found out that this person does not even profess to be a Christian). The person was raised in a 'conservative' Christian home, heard the gospel while growing up, and continues to go to church, but I'm just grieved-- in a sense-- and I'm just trying to figure out how I should think (biblically) about all this.
Your thoughts were good and I really appreciate them; I guess I'm just struggling to work through the 'strangeness' of the whole situation... the person isn't a member, I'd probably have to let the elders know that they really need to examine this person if it ever came to an issue of membership.

 

[Arch2k]

Our attitude? Be encouraged that they're coming and sitting under the ministry of the Word, in hopes that God will grant them repentance under such preaching. In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul recognizes that unbelievers are coming into the service, and also it is his hope that they will be edified by such. In fact, he goes out of his way to tell the Corinthians to be orderly, etc. so that the unbelievers will not think that the believers are out of their minds.

This is not to say that we allow disruption by believers or unbelievers. But if a "known" unbeliever is simply attending service, etc., our attitude should be hopeful that the ministry of the Word, by power of the Spirit, will be a means of regeneration for such a man/woman. The tares and the wheat metaphor, I'd say, applies more to church membership.

Now, if we're talking about one who is a member, and their lifestyle/speech, etc. obvious shows them to be living like an unbeliever, then they should be confronted according to the steps laid out in Matthew 18. If they refuse to repent, they should be removed from membership, but not necessarily removed from attendance...as the gospel being preached may be their very means unto repentance.

Absolutely. The preaching of the Word is the primary means of evangelism.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Matthew,

The older you get and the more people you interact with closely, you'll find that it is not quite as strange as you think.

I wouldn't want to hand out a survey of basic Christian questions to everybody in my congregation. I would be afraid to see the results.

Remember, Church discipline is designed to deal with those in open sin or rebellion with in the Church and we don't root out those who are still willing to come and be exposed to the means of Grace.

Man, you really got me into some tangential thinking about this now.

I was just talking to a fellow believer about this last night regarding baptism. He, a baptist, was trying to understand the difference between the way he and I view baptism. He saw it as significant of the faith he had and then got baptized. Our view was different.

I then related to him that, when I was baptized in a non-denominational Church in 1995, I cannot honestly state that I understood the Gospel. I still thought that Roman Catholics and Protestants believed the same. I was getting baptized because it's the only way I could be a member of the Church as I had been baptized Roman Catholic.

Now, the question is: While I was yet ignorant of the Gospel, was I a disciple?

How one answers that reveals their view of the role of the visible Church. The visible Church isn't meant to attempt to prune off every branch it suspects is non-elect. It's meant to nurture every member that it has within its walls and let God produce the fruit from the means.

If I had stopped attending Church at the moment of my baptism, I have no doubt I would still be ignorant. As it was, I was very devoted to Church attendance. I was a worship leader. I tried reading my Bible regularly. I prayed. I did a lot of goofy and ignorant things but I never openly repudiated the faith.

Then I heard R.C. Sproul on the radio one day. Then I read Faith Alone and everything I had been exposed to from the Scriptures over the years came surging forward into a crescendo of coherence and understanding. "Yes! That's TRUE!", I felt like screaming in the middle of an airplane on the way to Tokyo in 1997 as I read that book.

And so I teach at the Church I attend. I don't teach because I think everybody fully embraces it or comprehends it. I teach because I don't think they have. I teach because in the regular teaching of the Word at my Church some will lay hold of it and, having been exposed to years of Church, preaching, prayer, etc., God will use all those means together and save that man from his sins.

And so, not knowing the sheep from the goats, and being specifically commanded never to guess who they are, I love everybody in visible fellowship with me and hope the very best for them.

 

[calgal]

What Rich and others said. We do not know who is saved, who is unsaved (wheat and tares) or who God will call to Himself. I do not mind the unsaved at church and would pray God would change their hearts. I do not recommend any "Seeker friendly" services but as long as the preaching of the Word is not watered down, why not have more unsaved folks hear the effectual preaching of God's word.

 

[ReformedWretch]

What I've come to believe/understand over the years is that Church is nt FOR unbelievers, but they are welcome.

 

[21st Century Calvinist]

We should be delighted that people who are not Christians are coming into our worship services. We are to be a loving welcoming community to them.
We witness to them in the same way that we witness to our non believing family members, friends, co-workers, neighbors, etc.
The question that we don't like to dwell on too much is: what are we doing to bring more unbelievers into the worship service? We should be longing to see and expecting unconverted people coming along to worship. In our churches we should be delighting to see the Holy Spirit at work through bringing people to know Jesus.
So Matthew, pray hard for your friend, encourage him when you see him at worship and continue to show the love of Christ to him.