So someone very close to me asked me an important question, “What can I do to get my wife to go back to church with me?” I went blank, had no clue what to say. But then I have been praying and thinking about that question, it’s been weighing on my heart.
Got me thinking about my own situation. When I met my wonderful-beautiful-graceful wife she was saved and I wasn’t, I would go as far to say that I thought Christians were brain washed morons (sad but true, those were my Saul years, lol). She lived her life through Christ and reflected His light. The more I saw how she acted and how quickly she was able to forgive it kept gnawing away at my hardened heart. God used her to reach me. So that is one way, be the light. Matthew 5:16 “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” That scripture I have seen lived out and has affected my life for eternity.
I brought this question to a fellow Christian. She said pray. Pray that God softens her heart like he did yours. Make your “request” before God. Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
So what would you do, what is your advice to someone who is trying to get their significant other back to church?
Maybe these spouses who do NOT go to church, are a lot more biblical then those who do. 😉 Can you name one person, in the Bible, who went to church? When you use the word “church†– Which “church†are we talking about? 1 – “The Church of God?†Where Jesus is the head of the body, (The ekklesia, the called out one’s), The Church? 🙂 2 – the church of man? Where the 501 (c) 3, non-profit, tax $ deductible, Religious $ Corporation? Is called the church? 🙁 Seems, in the Bible, “The Church†The Ekklesia, the called out one’s, refers to individual people, and an assembly, and now the house of God. 😉 Did Jesus shed “His Blood†for – An organization? An institution? A building? A denomination? Or a $ Corporation? Should “Disciples of Christ†call a Corporation – “The Church of God?†😉 Don’t know if you ever checked or not but… In the Bible… NO one ever joined “A Church,†NO one ever went to “A Church.†NO one ever “Tithed†to “A Church.†NO one ever brought their children to “A Church.†NO one ever applied for membership in “A Church.†NO one ever gave silver, gold, or money, to “A Church.†NO buildings with steeples and crosses called “A Church.†NO – Pastors – in Pulpits – Preaching – to People – in Pews. 😉 In my experience… that’s what happens in the church of man. Yes? In the Bible… Believers become “the Church of God.†🙂 Seems to me, these spouses who do NOT go to church, are a lot more biblical then those who do… Because, NO one ever went to church in the Bible. 😉 What is popular is not always “Truth.†What is “Truth†is not always popular.
FYI, Aamos, “ekklesia” in Koine Greek could refer to a crowd, a gathering, or a mob. The word had no inherent sense of being “called out.” Having said that, the “New Testament church” is impossible to replicate here in the USA in early 2011. We are not under the persecution they were. We do not have the sense of true community they did. Our “churches” are, too often, social clubs or social justice fraternities. (I’m not saying the social aspect — either one — is bad, but it must never be a congregation’s priority.) I know too many people who have been burned or burned out by a church. I’ve been there, done that, and am trying to destroy the last T-shirt from that situation. 🙂 Too many churches have given too many people too many good reasons to avoid “organized religion” altogether. I don’t believe there is a formula for getting one’s spouse into, or back into, a church. It’s going to depend on the ability of both spouses to find an acceptable “house style” (the only good reason I can see for denominations) and, more importantly, a group of people both can connect to. In some areas there is no such church yet, even though the town may have dozens of “churches” in it. Focus on God is the only way to go. It will sustain both spouses before, during, and even after they attend a church together.
Joe – Thanks for the response. Did a search on Google. Seems to be some debate about “ekklesia.†😉 FYI – Here are a few who disagree with “a crowd, a gathering, or a mob.†………….. Ekklesia Ministries. http://www.ekklesia.ws/ekk_defined.htm For 17 Centuries the greatest understanding in Christendom has been hidden behind the ministry of the priest and pastors of the traditional church. Starting first under the Roman Catholic (i.e., “universal”) Church, then by way of the reformation to the protestant church, and finally into the evangelical church, this great understanding, the way of truth, has been maligned. This great understanding is the ekklesia. The goal and mission of Ekklesia Ministries is to make ekklesia a household word, that every person who names the name of Christ will know it intimately. Without a clear view and understanding of ekklesia we shall never reach the real joy that comes with knowing Jesus and Him crucified. Knowing the ekklesia and its function are the bedrock of being a member of the body of Christ. It is the only way to experience the oneness of the body of Christ that Jesus prayed for in John 17. Ekklesia is the Greek word that has been translated in the Bible as “church,” 108 times! Every time you read the New Testament Scripture concerning the ekklesia, your mind tells you that you are reading about the “church.” This is the root of the greatest deception perpetrated on the body of Christ. Ekklesia means “the called-out ones.” Ekklesia does not mean, “church.” ———————- Ekklesia Revisited – By WAYNE JACKSON, November 24, 2009 http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1500-ekklesia-revisited …My criticism is not that these brothers are uncomfortable with the “called out†sense of the term—that is their privilege, however incorrect I believe it to be. It is their inflexible view, one that ridicules a considerable body of scholarship (that conflicts with their personal perspective) that I feel is misguided. Either they are unaware of the wider range of scholars who dispute their theory, or else they have fixated on a position and are not open to any other possibility… …J. H. Thayer described it as “a gathering of citizens “called out†from their homes into some public place; an assembly†(1968, 195-196; emphasis added). In his classic essay on ekklesia in Kittel’s remarkable work, Schmidt, who sometimes seems self-conflicting, nonetheless wrote: The citizens [in Greek society] are the ekklesia, i.e., those who are summoned and called together by the herald. This teaches us something concerning the biblical and Christian usage, namely, that God in Christ calls men “out of the world†(1965, 513)… …William Barclay alluded to the common idea that ekklesia refers to a “body of people who have been ‘picked out’ from the world.†He says: It has not in it that exclusive sense. It means a body of people who have been “summoned out†of their homes to come and meet with God; and both in its original Greek and Hebrew usages, that sense was not exclusive but inclusive (1964, 70; emphasis added). In other words, both ideas, “out of the world†and “summoned to assemble,†are inherent in the original word. “Usually the Greek term represents God’s people as distinguished from others, thus called out (ek ‘out’ and kletos ‘called’) of the world†(Myers 1987, 215). It is very difficult to see how either the term “assembly†or “congregation†can, in any fair sense of those terms, be applied to the church on a universal scale. The universal church is never assembled. It is not an unassembled assembly. Cremer defined ekklesia in its universal aspect as “the entire congregation of all who are called by and to Christ, who are in the fellowship of His salvation†(1962, 334; emphasis added). The teaching that Christians have been called from the world into a relationship with Christ is profuse in New Testament literature (Acts 2:39; 1 Corinthians 1:26-29; Ephesians 4:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:14; 2 Peter 1:10). These texts perfectly complement the meaning of the original term rendered “church†in the New Testament…. —————– GORDON-CONWELL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:pDa4vXP4s8cJ:www.iamadisciple.com/articles/papers/TheRiseOfBishops.pdf+William+D.+Mounce+ekklesia&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjN2J22p1kASunbVBkRbyOex8fId_Y2i-KAwNKVZqT1Zjl68LyYqdlnv2-C6heUHoIlUrLGRG2T1GZHK3_Kz15MOlPnny8AVhyEn7eTsXCrKf2fBP5UqLwZmJ3tifUGC9wQOvD8&sig=AHIEtbSnvl_Fr1OSkPJ1u5JSSmQYnwQUIg PDF can be downloaded – THE RISE OF THE MONARCHICAL BISHOPS IN THE ANCIENT CHURCH Page 3 next to last para. “To join the Church, a person does not do so through filling out a membership card, taking a class, or partaking in any “rites†such as baptism or communion. The Greek word used in the Scriptures to describe the Church is “Ekklesia,†which means “called out ones.â€3 To join the Church, an individual must “come out†(Rev 18:4) of the spiritually corrupt, sin-filled world, and come into the kingdom of God by faith, and enter into a spiritual union with Christ.†And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall “hear My voice; “ and there shall be “ONE†fold, and “ONE†shepherd. John 10:16 One Fold – One Shepherd – One Voice – Jesus
@Aaron: the definition I saw of ekklesia came from Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon. In fairness, though, Strong’s Concordance claims the “called out” meaning.