wfn.org | Christian matchmakers help church members find a mate

["Lydia Ma" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>Taiwan Church News

>2972 Edition

>February 9~15, 2009

Christian matchmakers help church members find a mate

>Reported by Chen Yi-shuan

>Written by Lydia Ma

People get married now at an older age than ever before and for  Christians who insist on marrying one of their own, finding a suitable  mate is even more challenging. Many pastors or elders are baffled and  worried at why many talented and admirable young adults have such a hard  time finding a suitable partner.

To address this problem, Presbyterian Church in Taiwan’s (PCT)  Tainan Presbytery is starting a new ministry to help single, young  adults. The Marriage Committee began on February 7 when ministry leaders  organized a gathering open to church members interested in becoming  matchmakers so that they could get to know each other, work together,  and become channels helping young adults from different churches across  Tainan Presbytery find suitable mates.

The presbytery hopes by partnering with church members across Tainan  city, many churches can be blessed by this ministry as matchmakers and  presbytery leaders work hard to become channels facilitating singles to  meet other singles.

Jung-jou Presbyterian Church Pastor Huang He-long remarked that one of  God’s priorities after creating everything was to become a  “matchmaker” by giving Eve to Adam for companionship. He added  that the presbytery’s Marriage Committee would not be acting alone  because it would be partnering with God in finding suitable mates for  believers.

“Often times, there is too much discussion on theology during small  group meetings and many talented church members never have the  opportunity to get to know someone who might be compatible companions.  Creating a permanent organization that can help young adults find a mate  is very necessary and urgent,” said Huang.

During the gathering of matchmakers, many issues were raised and  discussed, including the name of the organization, whether to promote  one-to-one or group activities, how to create and organize personal  information files, training classes for matchmakers, and participants  were enthusiastic and eager to get started.

After listening to different opinions from eligible matchmakers, Huang  summarized what was discussed and the group agreed that all candidates  using this matchmaking service must at least be interested in becoming a  Christian. Each matchmaker would be responsible for letting their  respective church pastor know about the new program as well as making  announcements during their own church fellowship or cell group meetings  to encourage church members to use of the program.

Huang reminded participants that any new church ministry would be met  with criticism or opposition at some point and matchmaking services  would not be immune from critics either. He urged participants to treat  criticism with calmness and an open mind, and reminded matchmakers to  respect each person who would need their service by keeping all personal  information confidential.

During the discussion, some pastors felt that matchmaking services  should focus on helping young adults gather information on people who  might be suitable matches and become a permanent instrument that young  adults can refer to for help. Other pastors commented that young adults  should not face many restrictions when using these services, because  what they need the most is a simple opportunity to meet someone and this  was the primary reason for creating this service.

The gathering for matchmakers attracted people from all churches across  Tainan city. The group began collecting information immediately after  the meeting adjourned and decided to hold the first “group blind  date” for young adults from April 17th to April 18th this year.

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