Jeff

Sep 14

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Evangelical churches are increasingly advertising some variation of “belong before you believe.” On the surface, the movement sounds like it’s charitable. But does it send the wrong message?

More importantly, what does the Scripture say about this?

A friend sent me a link to this church’s page, and I began to dig in. And what I found at Northview and many others like it is troubling—there is a serious neglect by the church’s leadership to lead the church biblically.

First, the question isn’t whether or not unbelievers should be allowed to sit in and listen to a sermon. It appears from the text that even the Apostle Paul wasn’t turned off by the idea that “outsiders” may be present inside the doors of the church in 1 Corinthians 14:23:

“If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter…”

So the category for outsiders sitting in and hearing the word or observing the conduct of believers exists, biblically. That part is undeniable. But the questions are:

What can we do with that? What are the boundaries? And what message are we sending to outsiders?

1 Corinthians 5:12–13 states:

¹² For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? ¹³ God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

Besides the obvious point Paul is making in this passage—that people claiming to be Christians but acting like unrepentant Pagans should be purged from the local congregation—we can also see that Paul is distinguishing between insiders and outsiders. This completely dismantles the notion that “we’re all God’s children” or “we’re all part of the same team.”

And just like in 1 Corinthians 14:23, it certainly dismantles the idea that somehow everyone around the body is part of the body in any meaningful ecclesiastical sense. Both of these passages show us that one can be physically present, but still considered an “outsider” by the church.

Scripture clearly demonstrates how one becomes a member of, or part of, the local body. In Acts 2:37-42, Peter preaches the gospel, and those who hear are “cut to the heart.” Peter commands them to repent. They receive the word, are baptized, and then added to the fellowship where they devote themselves to the apostles’ teaching, the Lord’s supper, and prayer.

What did not happen is that they first began partaking in the Lord’s supper, began praying with the apostles, were baptized, started serving tables as deacons are to do, began serving in the children’s ministry, and then—after “belonging” for a few years—received the word, repented, and believed.

Paul explains why this doesn’t work in 1 Corinthians 12:12–27. The hand, foot, eye, and ear metaphors are all part of the metaphorical “body” of Christ, with Christ as the head. The other members are functioning as part of that body, serving in ways that they are gifted to serve.

The question then becomes: how can a person be told he is part of the body while still separated from the head?

The problem is that these churches can catechize these outsiders into a false assurance of salvation. They attend, and they are led to believe that these are “my people.” They volunteer, they sing in the choir, they help with events, and they’ve been doing so for years—so they must be “one of them.”

This was a huge problem with open, practicing, married-to-another-man homosexuals who served in the children’s ministry at a Southern Baptist megachurch in Orlando. Unfortunately, this open, practicing homosexual has passed away without ever being told by his church that he was headed for destruction.

He was baptized by one of the church’s top pastors, he served in the children’s ministry, and he walked the aisle with his homosexual partner and flaunted it—all while being told by his church that he “belonged.”

So what about hospitality? We need to distinguish between hospitality and belonging. While the Scriptures do command us to be hospitable even to outsiders, it puts clear limits on what that means.

First, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 5:11 that if such a person claims to be a Christian, but clearly demonstrates with his behavior that he isn’t, we shouldn’t even eat with them. But I think we’re dealing with a more specific issue here. We’re not dealing with obvious false converts, or false teachers, or people who are deliberately trying to divide the body.

I think we’re addressing outsiders who genuinely don’t know what it means to be a Christian, but maybe they want to attend with a family member, or for some other reason. So long as clear boundaries are set, I’m not prepared to say it would be sinful for such a person to carry a folding table across the sanctuary and set it up for Sunday lunch.

But the clear limits, or not, that we set on how these people can serve can and will send a message to them.

Now, I know there are church purists who will say that the sanctuary is only for redeemed, believing members and their children. And I agree with that sentiment. But the church isn’t a building, the church is the people. The members. The body. Particularly, the gathered body.

And this is exactly why those boundaries must be set.

The boundaries must communicate that these functions here are reserved for members of the body who have been gifted to carry them out.

Singing in the choir, for example, is an act of leadership. An unbeliever has no business leading others in worship just because he has a good voice or can play a piano well.

Other things, like serving in the nursery, participating in church business decisions, church discipline, doctrinal governance, or functions that represent the church as the church.

Off limits to outsiders.

But that doesn’t make them feel welcome.

It doesn’t make them feel like they belong.

Exactly!

They aren’t supposed to feel like they belong. They are supposed to feel the overwhelming pressure and hear the call to repent and believe. That is the primary purpose of the gospel. Not to make unbelievers feel welcome, but to make them feel extremely uncomfortable in their sin and rebellion against God while giving them the good news of the escape route—the cross.

If they reject that, then what are they even doing there?

But worse, a lot of these churches, like FBC Orlando, which I previously mentioned, baptize their unbelievers and even allow the unbelievers to baptize other unbelievers. And likewise, they partake in the Lord’s supper—a very serious act that requires discernment of the body.

In Ephesians 2:11-22, Paul refers to outsiders as “separated from Christ,” “alienated,” “strangers,” “having no hope and without God in the world.” And it is only after reconciliation with Christ that he refers to them as “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.”

If we don’t have the same attitude toward unbelievers among us in our own congregations, we’re doing them no justice. Worse, we’re disobeying the Scriptures and giving these people a false assurance.

If they don’t belong with us in eternity, why would they belong with us now?

The church, the ekklesia, is the body. Literally, the “called out” ones—set apart for fellowship with God.

Only believers “belong” to the body.

Everyone else belongs to the world—and the world is headed for destruction.

That message should be clear to unbelievers. Telling people that they can “belong before they believe” is a lie straight from the pits of Hell.