Can you please help me? I am a preacher of the gospel who is striving to teach and practice the truth. I respect the God-given work of the church and I do have a problem with churches doing what is not authorized in the Bible as far as using the church funds. Is it proper to call these folks in the “churches of Christ”, who are in errors (e.g. institutionalism or liberalism)? Is it proper to call these folks Christians or brothers in error?<\/p>\n\t
“But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother<\/em>” (II Thessalonians 3:13-15).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
For the most part, those who have followed the path of liberalism and institutionalism still follow the elementary teachings of Christ. They still teach about hearing the word of God, having faith, repenting of sins, confessing Christ, and being baptized for the remission of sin. Since these things put a person into Christ (Galatians 3:26-27), they are brethren — wayward brethren, but brethren nonetheless.<\/p>\n
It is because they are brethren that we treat them with kindness and respect, but we do not associate with them while they hang on to their sinful teachings (II John 9-11; I Corinthians 5:9-13).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Can you please help me? I am a preacher of the gospel who is striving to teach and practice the truth. I respect the God-given work of the church and I do have a problem with churches doing what is not authorized in the Bible as far as using the church funds. Is it…<\/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,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[34,253,1508,192],"class_list":["post-19223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-false-teaching","tag-fellowship","tag-institutionalism","tag-liberalism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2633,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-you-anti-or-liberal\/","url_meta":{"origin":19223,"position":0},"title":"Are you “anti” or “liberal”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 11, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Wow! I am so happy to see a site that holds to sound doctrine.\u00a0 There is only one thing that I don't see much written on Institutionalism.\u00a0 I do see the article on church spending which is correct.\u00a0 I was wondering though if you all were \"anti\" or \"liberal\"\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":30984,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-not-certain-what-group-you-are-with-but-i-find-your-website-helpful\/","url_meta":{"origin":19223,"position":1},"title":"I’m not certain what group you are with, but I find your website helpful","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a disciple of Jesus Christ who attends a fellowship of churches once known as the International Churches of Christ. I was googling opinions and articles on various biblical topics when I saw your website. I just wanted to tell you how refreshing it was to see such\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":70122,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/institutionalism\/","url_meta":{"origin":19223,"position":2},"title":"Institutionalism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Chris Reeves Truth Magazine August 2024 Christians today who were not raised during the institutional battles among brethren in the 1950s and 1960s would do well to learn the issues that divide us today. Having learned these issues,\u00a0they can then teach others the truth concerning the work and organization\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":70254,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-was-the-issue\/","url_meta":{"origin":19223,"position":3},"title":"What Was the Issue?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bill Hall Church-Supported Orphans' Homes: What Was the Issue? The Sponsoring Church Arrangement: What Was the Issue? Kitchens and Fellowship Halls: What Was the Issue?","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":25826,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/isnt-the-use-of-conservative-non-institutional-or-mainstream-to-describe-churches-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":19223,"position":4},"title":"Isn’t the use of “conservative,” “non-institutional,” or “mainstream” to describe churches wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Since the \"Church of Christ\" is the only authorized name for the church, why do some take pride in calling it the \"conservative church\" or the \"non-institutional church\"? I also hear of the \"mainstream church.\" Is this not liberalism and denominationalism? Answer: First off, \"church of Christ\" is not\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":58965,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/quotes-on-institutionalism\/","url_meta":{"origin":19223,"position":5},"title":"Quotes on Institutionalism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Excerpt from an article by David Lipscomb Gospel Advocate, August 29, 1907 The following article was sent to me with the request that I comment on it. Bathurst St. Church of Christ To the Church of Christ at Beamsville -- Greetings: At a meeting of the officers of the congregation,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19223","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=19223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19223\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}