 The time was the 1970s and Dr Benjamin George was then attending Imbi Gospel Hall, Kuala Lumpur. As he looked around, he was puzzled by the many single men and women in his church and other Gospel Hall Assembly churches. Somehow, they seemed unable to find matches and this got Dr George very concerned.
Coming from a community in Kerala, India, where the pastors were actively involved in matching their single members (his own marriage was matchmade by his pastor!), Dr George decided to do his bit for the many singles around him. He started the Inter-Assembly Singles Fellowship among the Klang Valley Assemblies. He recalled that many men found partners, but the number of women who remained single was “too many”.
“Over the last four decades, we saw few, if any, church leaders or pastors in Malaysia taking this problem seriously. As a result, many singles have gone out and married non-Christians,” he said.
The advent of the Internet has seen the mushrooming of many matchmaking websites and spurred by the success stories they had heard, Dr George and his wife decided to start a matchmaking website for Christians two years ago. The site, aptly called “rightmatches.com” cost them several thousands ringgit but the couple decided not to charge a fee to attract a wide base of membership.
“This is a ministry, not a money-making venture,” he asserted. But there are criteria to fulfil for those who want to be members – they must be believers and are regularly attending their churches. To verify these criteria, applicants must supply the names of their church and pastor. “This information will also act to help weed out bad hats and those who are out to cheat girls,” explained the retired physician.
Members have access to the details of the other members, and if a member is interested in a particular person, he/she could e-mail the other party using a pseudonym to preserve anonymity in avoid embarrassment should the early contact fail to proceed.
Dr George’s concern extends beyond helping singles find matches; he is alarmed by the lack of men in the churches. “More girls get saved and come to church. There are not enough men,” he lamented. “We must evangelise men more aggressively. If we do not keep the ratio right, our churches will be over-run by women and they will be filled with spinsters!”
Sharing Dr George’s concern for the many singles is A. Mosses Devaraj, who too started a matchmaking website two years ago out of concern for the many unmarried Christian girls. His website “www.divinematchmaking.info” operates the same way as Dr George’s, except that he is considering charging a fee because he needs the funds to run the website.
Mosess is thrilled that the website has successfully matched two members who got married last year. Another two are planning their wedding next year. Every Christian marriage is a boost to the Kingdom of God, as it will contribute towards its growth, at least biologically, Mosses believed.
“If more and more Christians are going to be unmarried, there are going to be lesser number of Malaysian Christians. In other words, lesser salt and light on this part of the world. Hopefully this ministry can reverse the trend and raise a godly generation,” he said.
|
