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There are almost no non-believers out there. Many first-time attendees I've seen in church were backslidden or out of fellowship, and were moved, for a reason not readily apparent, to attend that day. They were moved to worship and sincerely pray within minutes, and to follow up with a pastor afterward.

Want do you want, a sign at the door saying, "Sorry, only the saved (with certificate) may enter"?

"Want do you want, a sign at the door saying, "Sorry, only the saved (with certificate) may enter"?"

Again, and I dealt with this at length in a previous post, what I am saying is not that unbelievers should be halted at the door. And any inference to that effect is not a good faith effort to advance the dialogue. What I am saying is that the service itself should be structured to disciple believers. The way to do that is through teaching of the Word (exegetically), communion, fellowship and the breaking of bread, and prayer.

The objection to the seeker sensitive approach is simply that a) no one truly seeks after God (see the reference to Romans 3), b) if your overriding concern is to make the service attractive so as to reach more seekers, then you will necessarily dilute the Gospel message. The Gospel is not attractive in that way....it is in a very real sense offensive. Yet it is the only hope for people who are spiritually dead. If we pretend that they can have a fulfilled life and obtain the fruits of the Spirit without encountering the risen Saviour first (And that encounter coming through the Holy Spirit who works through the preaching of the Word), then we are deluded. But to encounter the Saviour, you have to know that you are a sinner. Which takes you back to the point that the full-throated, Biblical, Gospel message is not just good news. It is very very bad news...followed by the Good News. And it is likely to be very offensive to the man on the street who thinks the Today Show is just dandy.