The Work of the Church<\/a>” for a list of passages.<\/p>\nGiving is a way to show that the giver and the receiver are in fellowship with each other. “For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency\u00a0that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints<\/strong><\/em>” (I Corinthians 8:2-3). When the Philippians supported Paul, he acknowledged their fellowship in his work. “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy,\u00a0for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now<\/strong><\/em>” (Philippians 1:3-5). “Nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my distress. Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia,\u00a0no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only<\/strong><\/em>” (Philippians 4:14-15). This is one reason there is not to be a tie between the church and non-believers. “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?<\/em>” (II Corinthians 6:14-15).<\/p>\nThough many claim to be Christians, not all teach the gospel of Christ accurately. “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds<\/em>” (II John 9-11). It is not proper for a Christian or a church to support someone who is teaching false doctrine. Such financial support would show support for false teaching. “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them<\/em>” (Ephesians 5:11).<\/p>\nYou are vague as to the differences in beliefs, but I am going to assume that you mean someone who teaches things contrary to what we find in the New Testament. “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed<\/em>” (Galatians 1:6-9). A person who will not abide in the teachings of Christ is not to be supported by followers of Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: Since you do not believe that the church, out of the church treasury, can help non-saints, do you believe the church can help a saint that does not believe in some of these matters as you do? Answer: The church is restricted to helping members of the church because that is the only example…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[194,154],"class_list":["post-14431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-benevolence","tag-church-funds"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19698,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-shouldnt-write-against-having-kitchens-and-fellowship-halls-since-these-arent-important-to-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":14431,"position":0},"title":"You shouldn’t write against having kitchens and fellowship halls since these aren’t important to salvation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 31, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I stumbled across your web site and found some very valuable information that may help me in the future. I disagree, however, with one of your beliefs. Having a kitchen or a potluck at the church building is not wrong. The church building is just that -- a building.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68242,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-fellowship-halls-optional\/","url_meta":{"origin":14431,"position":1},"title":"Are fellowship halls optional?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good morning, brother Jeffrey: I have had several discussions with an elder of a church of Christ. First, the issue of fellowship halls. I sent him the article entitled \"Kitchens and Fellowship Halls, What Was the Issue?\" His response was because the early church met in homes for worship\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60882,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-fellowship\/","url_meta":{"origin":14431,"position":2},"title":"What is “Fellowship”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 27, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Smitherman The early disciples \"continued steadfastly in ..fellowship\" (Acts 2:42). And, this \"constant attention\" to fellowship is a practice of our first-century brethren that we would do well to imitate. But what is involved in \"fellowship,\" especially fellowship with a local church? Fellowship is not \"placing membership\" or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36244,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/cant-christians-meet-on-other-days-of-the-week\/","url_meta":{"origin":14431,"position":3},"title":"Can’t Christians meet on other days of the week?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In regards to \"Can I attend an InterVarsity Christian Fellowship instead of a church while at college?\" My first question is on \"One departure from the Lord's church that you mention is that they have services on Tuesdays, but the church meets on the first day of the week\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68161,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-choose-a-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":14431,"position":4},"title":"How Do I Choose a Church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 20, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Johnny O. Trail One radio station in Nashville does nothing but talk radio. As an avid talk radio listener, I am always interested in the questions and comments of those who call in. On one show, the host deals exclusively with emails that listeners have sent in. The other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17152,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-family-wont-go-to-church-because-they-think-people-will-judge-them-for-not-attending-how-can-i-get-them-to-go-with-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":14431,"position":5},"title":"My family won’t go to church because they think people will judge them for not attending. How can I get them to go with me?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question to ask you that I do not know how to fully answer.\u00a0 My family members are not convinced that going to church as a family is the best thing for the family. I believe that going to church is important especially as a family, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14431\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}