To Marry or Not: Living Together

As a leader in your singles ministry you will have a dating couple in your group at some point that choose to live together or have a couple come into your group already living together. Sometimes these cohabiting/fornicating/living in sin adults will find their way to a married adult class trying to pass off as a “normal married or engaged” couple. Regardless of the entry point into the church these adults are singles until the wedding day. Then comes the dilemma for the church.

This cohabiting couple wants to marry, but your pastor will not marry a couple living together. While there are many angles to this situation, the product of the church’s position has communicated to this couple to “let the state fix our problem and not the church.” Sure the minister can say separate until the wedding day, but reality is they are living together most likely to save money or they can not make enough to live alone. So demanding a move often never happens. After all, if the church denies the request for this couple to marry, they can go to the courthouse and in a week be married. The church must meet people where they are, but hold the line on what Scripture clearly says is a sin.

So will the same church who said no to the union now say yes to the marriage? Affirming that the state government can fix a situation that the church could not?