John F. MacArthur Jr. Quote
This is one of the most serious problems with seeker-sensitive churches. I was talking to a pastor at a seeker-friendly church not long ago about his idea that prospective Christians needed to feel welcome and accepted before anything else: no threats, no judgmental baggage. I asked, If you had a person living in sin come to your church, would you confront him? He furrowed his brow and shook his head disapprovingly. Oh, no! We’d want him to feel loved and welcome. My eyes widened. How long would it be before you would actually say something about that? Maybe a year and a half, two years, he said, smiling. Because then he would really feel a part of things. That was shocking to me. Is there some virtue in leaving a man in his sin for the sake of feeling accepted? Well, that’s the difference between your church and our church, I said finally. Openly practicing sinners come to our church, and they either get saved or they don’t come back.
This is one of the most serious problems with seeker-sensitive churches. I was talking to a pastor at a seeker-friendly church not long ago about his idea that prospective Christians needed to feel welcome and accepted before anything else: no threats, no judgmental baggage. I asked, If you had a person living in sin come to your church, would you confront him? He furrowed his brow and shook his head disapprovingly. Oh, no! We’d want him to feel loved and welcome. My eyes widened. How long would it be before you would actually say something about that? Maybe a year and a half, two years, he said, smiling. Because then he would really feel a part of things. That was shocking to me. Is there some virtue in leaving a man in his sin for the sake of feeling accepted? Well, that’s the difference between your church and our church, I said finally. Openly practicing sinners come to our church, and they either get saved or they don’t come back.