RIGHT or WRONG: Membership for couple ‘living in sin’?

Posted: 3/14/08

RIGHT or WRONG:
Membership for couple 'living in sin'?

Our pastor recently presented a couple for membership in our church. He introduced them as having made professions of faith in Christ and as husband and wife, although they have different last names. One friend told me they had been living together for several years. The congregation voted them into membership, but surely we shouldn’t bring people into our congregation living in sin, should we?

Your concern for the standard of church membership reveals a respect for the witness of the body of Christ. Even so, it is probably true that more harm is done to the gospel by those who claim it from the inside than by those who attack it from the outside.

The struggle with which you and the church must contend is the identity and consequence of “living in sin.” Jesus addressed the situation of the woman “living in sin” by saying to her accusers, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7b). The attackers’ silence reveals that even the most pious would confess that we are an imperfect people. The Apostle Paul answered Jesus’ challenge by writing, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). If we are living at all, we are all “living in sin.” Yet the church has perfected the art of rock-throwing.

Before you go in search of a rock pile, perhaps you ought to reconsider what you heard. Your pastor identified these individuals as husband and wife. The different last names and a rumor seemingly sparked quick judgment, discounting your pastor’s assessment of their relationship and fanning the gossip flames. Blinded by our all-too-common penchant for hasty verdicts, we eagerly aim the rock of judgment.

Your condemnation could be based on nothing more than an unfounded presupposition toward the wife’s retention of her maiden name. Suppose your pastor is wrong and your friend is right; a need for some resolution remains. Surely, follow-up conversation by the pastor, outreach leaders, Sunday school leaders or deacons is initiated with any who join your church. There can be discussion raising the principle that your church cannot receive people who live in what appears to be an arrangement that counters New Testament principles regarding marriage. Quite possibly the new converts have no knowledge of this guideline. Ordinarily, explanation is received gracefully. Time is needed to patiently work with them in their life situation, to help them move toward a marital arrangement that is a more positive one to be projected to the congregation and the community.

At the least, you are discovering most churches need to be more deliberate in their treatment of new members, both in recruiting them and in follow-up as you assimilate them as smoothly as possible into the larger membership.

Allen Reasons, senior minister

Fifth Avenue Baptist Church

Huntington, W. Va.

Right or Wrong? is sponsored by the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Hardin-Simmons University's Logsdon School of Theology. Send your questions about how to apply your faith to btillman@hsutx.edu.