{"id":29230,"date":"2020-12-29T21:30:55","date_gmt":"2020-12-30T03:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=29230"},"modified":"2020-12-29T21:30:55","modified_gmt":"2020-12-30T03:30:55","slug":"is-it-wrong-for-an-institution-to-ask-for-donations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-for-an-institution-to-ask-for-donations\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it wrong for an institution to ask for donations?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>Hello,<\/p>\nIs it okay for organizations such as GBN TV to ask for donations publicly? Is anything wrong with this? This organization is run by members of the Lord&#8217;s church.\nI do not think anything is wrong with this, but I do think it would be wrong if the congregation itself asked for donations publicly. Please correct me if I&#8217;m wrong.\nThanks.\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>Churches are funded solely by the voluntary contributions of their members (I Corinthians 16:1-2). No other way was laid out by God.<\/p>\n<p>Man-made institutions can raise their funds in any way they desire that is legal. That isn&#8217;t the problem with institutions like GBN. The problem is that they try to make their institution a quasi part of the church. For example, GBN states that it is &#8220;under the oversight of the elders of\u00a0Southaven Church of Christ in Southaven, Mississippi.&#8221; [https:\/\/gbntv.org\/about-us\/]. Elders oversee a congregation, not a business.<\/p>\n<p>However, GBN doesn&#8217;t just ask for contributions from Christians. They also ask churches to fund their operations. &#8220;GBN is funded entirely by donations that are given by congregations and members of churches of Christ&#8221; [https:\/\/gbntv.org\/support\/]. Churches cannot pay some other business to do their own work.<\/p>\n<p>There is also a blurring between the role of the church and a private business. For example, the same page states, &#8220;The Lord has commanded us to reach every soul with the message of salvation.&#8221; &#8220;Us&#8221; is left open and can easily be read as referring to GBN, which would be a false statement. The church is tasked with spreading the gospel (Ephesians 3:10) and so are individual Christians (Matthew 28:19-20). Where individuals may decide to create a business and use that business to spread the gospel, this is not a work of the church. There is no command by God for a church to create a business to do its duty.<\/p>\n<p>See <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/institutionalism-a-virulent-cancer\/\">Institutionalism: A Virulent Cancer<\/a> for a detailed description of why organizations like GBN are wrong.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: Hello, Is it okay for organizations such as GBN TV to ask for donations publicly? Is anything wrong with this? This organization is run by members of the Lord&#8217;s church. I do not think anything is wrong with this, but I do think it would be wrong if the congregation itself asked for donations&hellip;<\/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":[1508],"class_list":["post-29230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-institutionalism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":69158,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-link-to-wvbs-or-gbn\/","url_meta":{"origin":29230,"position":0},"title":"Is it wrong to link to WVBS or GBN?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it wrong for a church to link to WVBS or GBN on its website? I'm unsure if it's right or wrong, but I'd at least like your thoughts, if you don't mind. Thanks. Answers: World Video Bible School (WVBS) and Gospel Broadcasting Network (GBN) solicit funding from individuals\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92681,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-children-be-bringing-food-donations-to-the-front-of-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":29230,"position":1},"title":"Should children be bringing food donations to the front of the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I am hoping you can help us with some insight into a situation happening in our local body. During the worship service, during the time of offering, the children of the congregation are invited to come up and donate food items to the church's pantry. Many members of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9553,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/would-it-be-wrong-to-accept-a-donation-from-a-non-member\/","url_meta":{"origin":29230,"position":2},"title":"Would it be wrong to accept a donation from a non-member?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I do need some advice concerning donations. We are working with our community by giving away clothes, books, etc.. that are in fairly good condition to those who are in need. We do not require any money from them to purchase it, but I was wondering if they are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69794,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-right-for-a-church-to-support-a-bible-school\/","url_meta":{"origin":29230,"position":3},"title":"Is it right for a church to support a Bible school?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings to you, Brother Hamilton; I trust you have been in good health. I need your guidance on these issues: Is it a sin for the church to financially support Bible schools? The church sometimes requests Bible school students to help carry out a massive evangelism campaign. How can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69866,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-church-let-the-community-use-its-well\/","url_meta":{"origin":29230,"position":4},"title":"Can a church let the community use its well?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 20, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings Brother Hamilton, I trust you are doing great today. I have this conflict to clarify:\u00a0I understand the church is not suppose to go into business or maintain one. But I have a challenge; My congregation was gifted a piece of land with a sunken borehole (well) by a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41761,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-think-about-accepting-donations-for-teaching-on-the-internet\/","url_meta":{"origin":29230,"position":5},"title":"What do you think about accepting donations for teaching on the Internet?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 11, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I'm a student and also preach the gospel when given the opportunity. I read your site often and I trust you to give the truth in a time when I sometimes feel that many congregations are straying from the original New Testament form. That is why I am\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","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\/29230","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=29230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}