Stop Dating the Church, Ephesians 5:25-33 Christ compares the church to a bride, a symbol of a pure love. He desires that we, as Christians, would come to Him in the same way that a bride comes to her groom, “holy and without blemish” verse 27. Our proper response to our Groom (Jesus Christ) is to love Him in return for His action of love on Calvary. To me, this image of Christians dating the church perfectly represents a massive trend that is occurring in our generation where Christians on the one hand claim to love Christ but on the other hand they have little or nothing to do with a church.