Thank you very much for your web site. I find it both educative and encouraging. Can I trouble you, my beloved brother, with some questions?<\/p>\n
When a congregation is in an area where a disaster has occurred, such a famine, earthquake, or the like, many of its members are likely to be suffering. In the New Testament, we read of famines that affected many brethren and the response other brethren made. “Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul<\/em>” (Acts 11:28-30). Why was it sent to the elders? Because these men would know better than any other who was in need within the congregations they oversee. In essence, the relief aid was sent from individual to individual with the churches aiding in the transfer.<\/p>\n In modern times, various organizations have taken on the task of helping the needy in times of distress. There is nothing wrong with people desiring to do good, and concern about one’s fellow man should be encouraged. There is nothing wrong with a needy Christian making use of the generosity of others. Some of these organizations, however, don’t have good contacts with the poor in a given region. For the same reason the early churches sent aid to through the local church, these organizations would rather deal with a local church and ask it to distribute the aid on their behalf. So long as there are no strings attached to the aid and the church solely uses the funds for the purpose the organization requested, I do not see a violation of what is taught in the Bible.<\/p>\n The same argument can be made with an individual who wishes to help but who is not a Christian. There is precedence. Cornelius was a Gentile but was a well-known benefactor. “There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always<\/em>” (Acts 10:1-2). Though he wasn’t a Jew, he aided the Jews and God took note of it. Another centurion was also generous to the Jews. “And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die. So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they begged Him earnestly, saying that the one for whom He should do this was deserving, ‘for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue’<\/em>” (Luke 7:2-5). We don’t see generosity being condemned just because the source was not a member of the local group.<\/p>\n Your second question changes from one where outsiders voluntarily offer aid to a member of the church specifically seeking out aid. It also changes the target of who benefits from individuals to the church. The church has only one way to raise funds for its operations — from the voluntary offerings of its members (I Corinthians 16:1-2). Because of this, churches or its members should not be seeking out other means for a church to finance its obligations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Thank you very much for your web site. I find it both educative and encouraging. Can I trouble you, my beloved brother, with some questions? Can a faithful congregation receive aid for the needy in the congregation from a non-believer or an organization? Can a faithful brother solicit relief aid for a church from…<\/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":[154,157],"class_list":["post-21108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-church-funds","tag-contributions"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36850,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-far-can-a-church-go-in-assisting-a-congregation-in-a-disaster-area\/","url_meta":{"origin":21108,"position":0},"title":"How far can a church go in assisting a congregation in a disaster area?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How far can a congregation go to help another congregation in need? For example several states away a congregation's building gets destroyed by a hurricane along with several members homes. Because of the devastation, they have no access to building supply stores and the like. They are not just\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":60598,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/voices-from-the-past\/","url_meta":{"origin":21108,"position":1},"title":"Voices from the Past","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 30, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Keith Sharp Mainstream Churches of Christ are far along in a falling away that began around the time I was born, and I'll soon be eligible for Medicare! The drift has taken place so slowly that most brethren think the modern innovations from the divine pattern for the church\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/04\/Goodpasture_BC_grave-300x99.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":39552,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-church-aint-doing-nothing\/","url_meta":{"origin":21108,"position":2},"title":"The Church Ain’t Doing Nothing","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Elliott How often have we heard that statement from a brother in Christ? And it is to be admitted that we often fail in fulfilling the many obligations that God has given us. But there are some pertinent observations that need to be made relative to this broad\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":68242,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-fellowship-halls-optional\/","url_meta":{"origin":21108,"position":3},"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":9622,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-giving-to-the-church-optional\/","url_meta":{"origin":21108,"position":4},"title":"Is giving to the church optional?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: One of our members mentioned that he was not contributing monetarily to help support the local work. Upon hearing him make that statement I informed him that he was wrong, that his first responsibility is to help support the local work. As an individual, if he wanted to help\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":36847,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-church-at-work-in-benevolence\/","url_meta":{"origin":21108,"position":5},"title":"The Church at Work in Benevolence","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Irvin Himmel via\u00a0Guardian of Truth\u00a0XXXIX:10 p. 6-8, May 18, 1995 There is no better way to teach the plan of salvation than examining the cases of conversion in the book of Acts. Such examples as the Jews on Pentecost, the Samaritans, the Ethiopian eunuch, Saul of Tarsus, Cornelius, Lydia,\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21108","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=21108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21108\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}