{"id":19669,"date":"2020-02-08T20:44:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-09T02:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=19669"},"modified":"2020-02-08T20:55:44","modified_gmt":"2020-02-09T02:55:44","slug":"can-a-church-pay-school-fees-as-an-act-of-benevolence-if-the-student-has-no-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-church-pay-school-fees-as-an-act-of-benevolence-if-the-student-has-no-family\/","title":{"rendered":"Can a church pay school fees as an act of benevolence if the student has no family?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

Please, brother, can a church pay school fees as an act of benevolence if the student has no family?<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

“Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world<\/em>” (James 1:27).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

God charges individual Christians and not the church with the responsibility to take care of orphans and widows. If this student has no family, someone should have taken him in, giving him a home, food, and clothing. If a Christian cannot afford to do it on his own, others can help with the costs. The same goes for educational costs.<\/p>\n

If we are talking about higher education, then the student should also look into getting work so as to pay his way through school, at least as much as he can afford. Yes, it means that for a while he won’t have time for fun or time to get into trouble, but he will turn out to be a better man as a result.<\/p>\n

Churches are charged with dealing with only a small subclass of widows (I Timothy 5). The widow’s family and individual Christians handle the majority. There is no passage that instructs churches to care for orphans, only individual Christians. Individuals cannot push their responsibilities off to the church or any other organization. See\u00a0Orphans and Their Care<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: Please, brother, can a church pay school fees as an act of benevolence if the student has no family? Answer: “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27). God charges…<\/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":[194,154,191],"class_list":["post-19669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-benevolence","tag-church-funds","tag-orphans"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27612,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-an-institution-was-not-involved-could-the-church-take-care-of-orphans\/","url_meta":{"origin":19669,"position":0},"title":"If an institution was not involved, could the church take care of orphans?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am familiar that the issues over orphan homes as always been the church giving the money to an institutional board so they can provide for the needs of the children.\u00a0 But would it be an issue if the church avoided the giving of funds to a board and\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":52572,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-benevolence-by-christians-limited-to-other-christians\/","url_meta":{"origin":19669,"position":1},"title":"Is benevolence by Christians limited to other Christians?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I want to know whether sharing or any act of benevolence by Christians should be limited to the body of Christ alone. Answer: There are two standards for benevolence work.\u00a0 One concerns what the church can do and the other concerns what individuals are expected to do. The easy\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":4015,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-can-the-church-do-for-widows\/","url_meta":{"origin":19669,"position":2},"title":"What can the church do for widows?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 6, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am interested in knowing what can the church do for the widows? There is a lady who is a widow and a member of the Lord's church.\u00a0 She has five grown children. Can the church pay for her husband's funeral out of the treasury? What if all members\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":49687,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-a-church-pay-for-a-members-cremation-or-ask-if-his-house-is-in-order\/","url_meta":{"origin":19669,"position":3},"title":"Should a church pay for a member’s cremation or ask if his house is in order?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: On two separate occasions, the church paid for a member's cremation. One member was asked if he had his house in order. Is this proper? Answer: The church is only involved in helping members with major disasters, such as a famine in the region (I Corinthians 8 and 9),\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":13290,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-should-we-take-care-of-orphans\/","url_meta":{"origin":19669,"position":4},"title":"How should we take care of orphans?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Other than taking a child into our home and family to rear, how should we take care of orphans? Answer: \"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world\" (James 1:27).\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":16783,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wouldnt-a-new-testament-church-realize-that-we-are-our-brothers-keepers\/","url_meta":{"origin":19669,"position":5},"title":"Wouldn’t a New Testament church realize that we are our brothers’ keepers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: On\u00a0the home page, it says that you really don't participate in community activities, fundraisers, home missions, or anything like that, in the way I interpreted it anyway. Wouldn't a New Testament church realize that we are our brothers' keepers? And that James said faith without works is dead? 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