WS Chronicle

Photo by Timothy Ramsey

BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY 

THE CHRONICLE

With instant access to singles all over the world with the touch of button through online dating apps, being single in the new millennium is tougher than ever.

Couple that with being a Christian trying to navigate the dating game in a godly manner while being bombarded by secular images and it can leave one somewhat confused as to what’s right or wrong in dating.

To help those Christians who are wondering how to court and date in a way that is pleasing to God, St. James Missionary Baptist Church, 3606 Ogburn Ave., Winston Salem, is holding a singles ministry, where they will tackle pressing questions for eight weeks.  Each week the church will address a different topic in sessions on Saturdays at 2:30 pm.

The church says the objective of the ministry is to aid the unmarried Christian members of the congregation, and the community at large, in living a spiritually fulfilling life without a mate and provide biblical information and insights into the characteristics and qualifications of an appropriate mate for those who seek to be married.

St. James Minister Dr. William Robinson is the creator of and speaker with the ministry.  He says he wanted to have the classes because there are many Christian singles out there who are single by choice and circumstance and he wants them to be clear about what the Bible says about the approach to dating.

“This hasn’t been taught in who knows how long,” Robinson said. “Most of us in our own ignorance are out here trying to maneuver our way through the world without clear guidance.  It’s in the Word of God, but if you don’t read the word of God you won’t see it. So somebody has to teach it.”

“I decided because I am single and looking, I know that there are other Christians who are single and looking, and when God sent me into the word to do an intense study about the whole single, dating, courting and marriage thing, I was blown away.  If I would have known these things before I ventured to get married, I would have still been married because I wouldn’t have been doing it the way the world said do it. I would have done it the way God said to do it, and nothing that God does fails.”

Some of the topics discussed are; Why am I single, Finding my soul mate, The Right Relationship and Sex and the single Christian just to name a few.  All of the information provided comes from biblical text.

Robinson said that not everyone in the world is meant to be married and that it is OK to be single but make sure it’s for the right reasons.

“There is nothing wrong with being single and there is nothing wrong with the interim period of being single if you understand what the purpose of it is,” Robinson went on to say.

Robinson says that many people move too fast nowadays in relationships. He thinks as Christians sometimes we fall into some of the same traps as the world which leads people into the wrong relationships to begin with.