Inviting The Lost To Church

From http://www.fishwithtrish.com/

Patrick,

Thank you for your input on this issue. Although I would agree with you that church is for believers to be equipped, I would strongly disagree with your understanding of Scripture as regards to unbelievers and inviting them to attend the church service.

Unbelievers are in every church service. Children, teenagers, and even adults many times are already there as unbelievers and thus, you would not have a "Christian Congregation" anyway. Paul clearly expected unbelievers to be welcomed at church in 1 Cor. 14.23-25. Often times it is through the preaching of the Word of God in church that many people actually get saved. Spurgeon and John Owen both were converted in church by the preaching of the Word of God.

At our church, we place a high premium on church membership. We believe membership is only for believers that have a credible profession of faith and therefore, children and many teenagers are not allowed membership until they possess a credible profession of faith, are baptized, and can articulate the gospel accurately. These are all prerequisites for being a member at Sovereign Joy Community Church.
I think the premises that you are operating under are false, at least for our church. What you should not be concerned with are unbelievers being invited to church but rather gearing the church service towards unbelievers so as to preach particularly to them as so many seeker sensitive churches do. If you have heard any of our sermons you will realize that we do not do this at all. We preach in such a way that one of two things will happen…

Either people will get saved, or they will be insulted and leave (2 Cor. 2.15-17).

I hope that helps you to see a fuller picture.

Sincerely in Christ,

Emilio Ramos